A New Ally
by Goldenrod
Summary: Through a freak occurence, a young human girl is transported to the Bionicle world. There, she makes new friends, has many adventures, and discovers amazing powers.
1. Kit

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, only Kit.

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Her name was Kit. She was your typical, average 17 year old junior level student in high school. That is, until one day, her life was changed forever. Letting herself in the house after walking home from school, she plopped her backpack next to the door and put in a Bionicle DVD to watch. 'It would be so cool to actually see the island of Mata Nui for real,' she mused as she sat on the floor. When a scene of Gali attacking a Rahkshi with her water powers occurred on the screen, Kit found herself becoming the victim of a squirt of water—a squirt of water that seemed to come from the TV. She stared at the screen, stupefied. "I could be wrong," she said as she felt her wet face, "but I think I just got squirted." No sooner than she said that, something strange happened. The colors on the screen began to turn blue. "What's going on?" she asked herself as she tried to stop the DVD, but nothing seemed to work. Then, the picture began to fade into even more blue as it started to spin, forming a vortex. That's when Kit became aware of a new sensation—a powerful, magnetic pull that was coaxing her towards the TV. She immediately dropped down to the ground, hoping to avoid as much of the pull as possible and tried to crawl away. But, the pull was too strong and, slowly but surely, it dragged her towards it. Suddenly, she felt as if she was lifted up into the air and was sucked in. In the vortex, Kit found herself spinning wildly, as if she couldn't control how she was moving. All around her, white wisps were spinning throughout the tube of blue with occasional flashes of light. As her ride continued, Kit found her vision beginning to blur until her world went black. 

Kit groaned, opening her eyes as she heard the chirping of birds and the chattering of monkeys. The first thing she noticed was the green sunlit canopy up above. "Where am I?" she asked as she scanned her surroundings with wide blue eyes, "What happened?" All around her were trees and bushes of green. 'Well, wherever I am, it's definitely not California; this place looks like some kind of jungle or rainforest.' She got up and dusted off the dirt, leaves, and twigs that clung to her burgundy, hooded, three quarter-long sleeved shirt, blue denim jeans, and thick dark blonde hair that was cut to the bottom of her ears and tapered in the back. As she did, she felt something slide against the skin of her neck and discovered it to be a thread. She could tell from the way it draped down to her chest that there was something attached to it. She pulled it out and found a light purple colored crystal. 'How did this get here?' she asked herself. She did not recall ever having this little trinket when she was back home. With a shrug, she tucked it back under her shirt and cautiously made her way down a nearby path. As she trekked through the jungle, occasional twigs snapping under her white and blue striped tennis shoes, she couldn't help but admire its natural beauty; with the trees, the colors, and the sounds, it was just so incredible. "Could do without the humidity," she mumbled as she wiped her forehead, followed by a slap on her hand, "and the bugs."

Just then, she heard a rustling sound in the trees and looked up, but heard and saw nothing. "Must've been a bird or a monkey," she shrugged, and continued on her way. However, she soon heard more rustling in the trees, rustling that seemed to occur whenever she was walking—someone, or some_thing_, was following her from up in the treetops. For a minute, she just stood frozen, not sure of what to do, then, a blur of green dropped in front of her with an "oomph". She couldn't believe what she was looking at—a Le-Matoran. He groaned as he rubbed his head and looked up at Kit. Both girl and Matoran gasped and Kit tripped and fell when they took a step back, thus placing her at eye level with the little guy. For a few moments, the two just stared at each other, one in disbelief, the other in fear. A thought suddenly struck Kit—she knew this particular Le-Matoran. When she began to get up, he cowered. "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you, Tamaru." She tried to assure him, and mentally slapped herself for admitting she knew him when he didn't know the first thing about her. Tamaru's eyes widened in surprise.

"How do you know my name?"

"Uh . . . long story," was the only explanation she could come up with, even if it was lame, as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Where are my manners?" she mentally slapped herself again. "My name's Kit." Tamaru cocked his head in a curious manner.

"Kit?" he repeated, and she nodded.

"What brings you to this part of the jungle, Tamaru?" she asked, in hope of getting a friendly conversation started.

"I was just leafrunning when I happened to spotsee you," the Matoran explained in a rapid voice, his composure more relaxed.

"I was curious as to what sort of strangeweird creature you were, so I quickfollowed in the trees." Kit had to take a few moments to figure out what exactly Tamaru said, remembering the Le-Matoran's knack for talking very fast, even by Le-Koro standards. Suddenly, the two of them heard a buzzing sound and Tamaru lithely leaped back into the trees while Kit ran onto a nearby cliff just off to the side. The buzzing was getting louder, but she couldn't quite figure out where it was coming from. "Behind you!" she heard Tamaru call, and she turned to see something big heading right for her. Reflexively, she dropped as low to the ground as she could. As her attacker flew over, the buzzing became a deafening roar and a powerful wind nearly took her over the edge. When she looked up in the sky, she was in for another surprise. Her attacker turned out to be none other than a giant dragonfly-like Nui Rama and it was banking over for another attack. Kit found herself running as fast as her legs could carry her towards the nearest tree and quickly ducked behind it. The Nui Rama banked away at the last minute, but not before it noticed the Le-Matoran on one of the branches. It banked once more and attacked this time its target was Tamaru, who found himself using all of his agility and wits to keep dodging the Rama.

"Hey, leave him alone you overgrown bully of an insect," Kit called out to the Rahi, but it ignored her.

Suddenly, Tamaru lost his balance and fell, but caught the branch just in time. However, this gave the Rama the opportunity it needed and it flew in, claws stretched out to grab him. Kit knew she had to act fast, but what could she do? Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a rock, she grabbed it and hurled it at the bug. The rock met its target, just above the Rahi's brow, and, dazed, the Rama crashed to the ground. "Did I do that?" Kit asked aloud, disbelief in her voice.

"You muchsure did," Tamaru answered as he slid down the tree. "You've got a quickgood arm."

Unfortunately, the Rama wasn't quite finished with them yet. Its dazing spell over, it got up and released a horrible screech, causing both Matoran and human to cover their ears. In the distance, they spied a whole swarm of Rama responding to their comrade's call and Kit knew they were in serious trouble.

"Should we run?" she asked her small companion, even though she already knew the answer. Tamaru nodded and they took off, Kit on the ground, Tamaru in the trees. Try as they might, the swarm was gaining on them. One Nui Rama was coming in towards Kit, and she instinctively shielded her head with her arms. However, the Rahi just flew over her, like she wasn't even there. At first, Kit didn't understand what their game was, but when they started congregating near or in the trees, it dawned on her—they weren't after her, they were after Tamaru. She watched in horror as the bugs somehow got the Le-Matoran to fall to the ground and thronged around him, claws slashing. "Tamaru!" she cried as she fought her way through the swarm. Finally locating Tamaru, she immediately registered how scratched up and limp he was when she huddled him into her arms, receiving a few scratches and scrapes from the Rama herself, and took off running with the Rama in hot pursuit. She just ran and ran with one thing in mind—get as far away from those things as possible and get Tamaru to place where he could get treatment for his wounds. She looked over her shoulder to see that the Rama still hadn't given up the chase. When she turned back around, she discovered they were heading for the edge of a cliff and stopped. Next to them was a waterfall and down below was a river into which it fed. Kit looked to the Nui Rama swarm, then back at the edge, and sighed, realizing they had no choice. "Hold your breath, Tamaru," she said and, with a yell, she jumped as far into the river as she could. She nearly lost her hold on Tamaru when they entered the water, but managed to hang on as the powerful current carried them downstream. Schools of Ruki fish scattered in fear as they passed through, and a larger fish with razor sharp teeth swam right for them. Kit saw the Makuta fish coming, dodged it just in time, and swam further downstream.

Meanwhile, two Ga-Matoran, Kotu and Kai, were fishing in the river. A slight tug on her fishing line caught Kotu's attention, and then the reel started spinning as whatever it caught on tried to get away, almost taking Kotu with it. "Kai I got a bite, and it feels like a big one," she called out as she started trying to reel in her catch.

"Pull it in, Kotu," Kai cheered, "Don't let it get away."

"Give me a hand, will ya?" Kotu replied, and Kai wrapped her arms around her friend's waist and helped in the pulling.

Together, the two managed to summon enough strength to toss their catch out of the water with a powerful tug of the fishing rod. Needless to say, they were a bit confused when they heard their catch call out, but it was nothing compared to their surprise when they discovered what it was that they caught. Lying on her side where she landed, Kit coughed out a little water while the Ga-Matoran stared at her, wide-eyed. "What is it?" asked Kai.

"I don't know," Kotu replied, "It's not like any Rahi I've seen before."

Rolling onto her back, Kit revealed Tamaru, still secure in her arms. Kotu and Kai gasped and approached Kit, but still kept a safe distance. "Are you ok?" asked Kotu.

"Yeah, thanks," Kit replied and almost floored herself when she recognized the Ga-Matoran Rahi tamer.

"What about the Le-Matoran? Is he breathing?" asked Kai, prompting Kit to take a look at him.

"Yeah, I think so," she answered, seeing that his heart light was still on, "Where's the closest place I can take him?"

"That would be our village of Ga-Koro," Kai answered.

Kit couldn't believe her ears, "I'm really that close to Ga-Koro?"

"Uh huh," Kotu nodded, "and if anyone there will know what to do, it's our Turaga, Nokama."

"Please, which way do I go?" Kit pleaded.

"That way," Kai pointed up a beach just outside the jungle. "Just go straight along the beach."

Suddenly, the group heard a loud buzzing sound in the sky. Kit didn't need three guesses as to what the fast moving black 'cloud' was.

"They're coming back," she said. "Those bugs don't know when to quit, do they?" and she took off.

"Wait!" Kotu called to her, "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you when I meet you at your village," Kit called back, leaving the two Ga-Matoran to ponder about the Rama and run to Kai's canoe.

Despite the fact that her legs were already tired from her last run and the swim in the river, Kit willed herself with all of her might to keep moving. Running on the beach was proving to be a bit of a challenge for she stumbled in the sand and almost fell a few times. Up ahead, she could just make out what looked like a giant lily pad—with a hut on it. Up above, dark gray storm clouds had completely covered the sky, the low rumbling of thunder could be heard, and it started raining. Tamaru groaned in her arms as a few raindrops fell on his Rau. "Hang on Tamaru, we're almost there," she pleaded with the Matoran. Just then, a Rama managed to catch up to her and used its huge head to ram Kit over a small cliff, sending her crashing to the ground. Her stomach hurt and she groaned in pain; she felt like she could barely bear to move. A flash of lightning erupted in the sky just as she gazed upon Tamaru's form, which was a little ways before her. He didn't even stir. "Tamaru!" she cried, and, groaning from the pain in her stomach, managed to crawl her way to him. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder and he moaned weakly. "Tamaru," she said quietly as her eyes began to water with tears, "this just can't happen." She couldn't believe it, refused to believe it; she had been on Mata Nui for barely a day, and it looked like she was already about to lose someone. In the sky, the Rama began to dive toward the ground. Hearing them approach, Kit looked up to them, at the village of Ga-Koro in the distance, and back at Tamaru. "Tamaru, Ga-Koro's not that far away from here; get yourself there," she said. Tamaru looked at her as if she was crazy. "I know you're weak from your beating, but if I can keep the Nui Rama busy long enough, maybe you can make it," she explained, and looked the young Matoran in the eye. "After that . . After that, just trust me, ok?" she finished, and turned to face the Rama with narrowed eyes. "Lousy, miserable bugs," she murmured to herself, "If I had a giant fly swatter right now I'd show them." She spotted a long, big branch lying next to her, picked it up, and held it in her hands like a sword. 'Not exactly the fly swatter I had in mind, but I guess it'll have to do,' she thought. Tamaru watched in awe as this person he barely knew and who barely knew him just stood there, placing herself between him and the Rama swarm.

"Kit?" he managed to utter.

"Get to Ga-Koro, Tamaru; it's the only way," Kit replied, then she addressed the approaching swarm. "C'mon you stupid bugs; come and get me!" and the swarm charged.

As the Rama dove in for their final assault, Kit did her best to stay put. She could feel her legs and arms shaking and it was taking all of her self-control not to bolt. Two thoughts were running through her mind. She found it a bit interesting that though she knew Tamaru's character, she was placing her life on the line to protect someone that she barely knew as a person. Plus, though she was hoping for the best, deep down she knew that chances were she was not going to survive the Rama's attack. But, that didn't mean she was just going to abandon Tamaru to the Rama, or go down without a good fight first.

"Kit, no," Tamaru fearfully called out to her as he weakly reached out a hand.

Just when the Rama were almost upon her, two tall figures appeared in front of Kit.

"Water!" one called out as it raised a hand holding an axe to the sky and the second one followed suit calling out, "Wind!" holding what looked like a sword.

In the sky, the clouds started forming a vortex with bolts of lightning in the center. "We call upon the power of the storm," the two figures called together, and a bolt of lightning streaked down from the heavens and, in a blast of light, struck the ground, where it exploded with a raucous roar. The force and light were so intense; Kit was knocked down to the ground, shielding her eyes as she fell. Then, the clouds cleared away, letting rays of sunlight and patches of blue sky be seen. On the former battlefield, wounded or stunned Rama littered the beach, and, a little further away, laid Kit and Tamaru. Both woke up and looked at each other. Relieved at seeing that Tamaru was awake, Kit gave a small smile.

"Well, they're gone," she said, and the Le-Matoran nodded in agreement.

Footsteps could be heard approaching them. They turned to find the two figures that were responsible for their rescue, and, sitting up, Kit found herself staring wide-eyed at two of the Toa—Gali and Lewa.

* * *

Believe it or not, this is just the beginning of Kit's amazing adventures. Her journey is sure to be filled with heartpounding perils and endless excitement. She will discover new friends, evil enemies, creatures beyond her wildest dreams, and incredible powers. And along the way, she will unlock the mysteries of the strange, yet wonderous world of Bionicle. 

(Let me know if this is too much.)

Next time--

The sound of pebbles hitting rock caught their attention. Gali immediately grabbed Kit and positioned her behind her. Tense moment after tense moment, the human and Toa kept their eyes locked straight ahead, where the sound came from. Soon, a skritch, skritch sound could be heard, and the source of the noise revealed itself.


	2. Recuperation

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

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"Come," Gali said gently as she offered Kit her hand, "we'll get you two to my village." 

Kit accepted the hand as Lewa carefully scooped up Tamaru in his arms and they headed for Ga-Koro. When they reached the top of a little mound of sand, they had a perfect view of the entire village. Tamaru took the moment to extend his fist towards Kit and they softly slapped their fists together, the Bionicle gesture of friendship and camaraderie. The Toa smiled and the group continued on their way into the village. Once there, Kit was introduced to Turaga Nokama, who patched both her and Tamaru up and insisted that they stay at Ga-Koro to recover. After Tamaru was laid down on a cot, Nokama tended to Kit, whose wounds weren't as serious.

"Just a few scratches and bruises," she commented as she bandaged Kit's upper arm.

Gali, who was in the hut, watched her mentor; ever since she and Lewa brought Kit and Tamaru in, she noticed that her Turaga hardly ever took her eyes off of the girl. Plus, she noticed something else in the Turaga's eyes, something that looked like recognition, as if Nokama somehow knew this girl.

'But that's not possible, is it?' she asked herself.

Night was beginning to fall on the island and some Ga-Matoran were getting some torches lit for the evening. Kit sat next to a window in the hut where she was staying, watching the sunset, the orange and yellow surrendering to the blue and purple, and listening to the water breaks against the lily pad. A few stars had already made their appearance in the sky, with many more to come. No matter how much she tried, she couldn't stop thinking about the day's events. She decided to go out for a little walk and found her way onto a little circle of lily pads. She sat near the edge of one, observing the surrounding huts and closed her eyes, feeling a gentle breeze blow through her hair. Just then, she heard a bubbling sound behind her and looked down at the water.

Meanwhile, Nokama was meditating in her hut. "I must inform the other Turaga," she quietly said to herself. A little shriek was heard and Nokama rushed outside and recognized Kit's voice. "Oh, please no," she prayed, and moved as fast as she could towards the sound.

Gali called from the next bridge over, "Turaga, what's going on?"

"I heard Kit scream, over there" Nokama called back as she pointed to a circle of lily pads.

With a couple of powerful leaps from bridge to bridge, Gali reached the circle. But, when she saw what she saw, she couldn't help a smile forming on her mask as she shook her head. "It's alright, Nokama," she waved. Nokama, confused, jumped into the water to get to the lily pads faster. When she got there, Gali helped her out of the water as the sounds of splashing water and playful laughter reached her ears. She could hardly believe what she saw next. Kit was laughing her head off as she tried to dodge water that was squirted at her courtesy of a Tarakava that trilled in an excited manner.

"Well, Kit," Nokama chuckled, "I see you've met Taki."

"Taki?"

"That's his name."

"Yeah, he gave me a bit of a scare a minute ago, though," she leered at the Rahi.

"But, once I realized that he wasn't going to hurt me, we came up with that little game you guys caught us playing." She gently stroked the Tarakava's nose and Taki purred, clearly enjoying the caress.

"Taki was one of the local Rahi that Kotu nursed back to health and tamed after he was freed of the control of an infected mask," informed Gali, and Kit nodded in understanding.

"It's time we should be going inside for the night," said Nokama, and, with a wave goodbye from Kit, Taki dove back into the water, and the trio headed for their huts.

The village of water was alit with torchlights and the lightfish that some Ga-Matoran kept in their huts in little containers. The sky was completely full of stars now, and as she walked with the Turaga and Toa, Kit kept looking up to see if she could spot a certain constellation. When she felt a hand on her arm, she looked down to see Nokama, who pointed her trident to the sky. She looked up to where the Turaga was pointing and found the constellation of six stars. She wasn't sure why, but she knew that this constellation seemed to have some connection to the Toa. She looked back to Nokama, nodded a thank you, and made a beeline for her hut. Just as she was about to enter, she chanced one more look at the sky and relocated the constellation. As satisfied as she could be at the moment, she entered the hut, lied down on the cot, and fell right to sleep with the memories of the day flashing past her mind's eye.

The next day, Kit awoke feeling extremely refreshed; her stomach and cuts barely hurt anymore. She sat up, stretched, and walked outside, where the sun felt good on her white skin. On the lily pad across from her, she spotted two Ga-Matoran, Kotu and Kai, talking. When they noticed her, they waved and called, "Good morning."

She waved back and made her way to them, "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Fine, thanks," replied Kai, "and you?"

"Still a little sore, but fine."

"I just remembered; you were in such a hurry, we were never given a chance to introduce ourselves," Kotu realized, and Kit let them tell her their names, recalling the last time she slipped, which caused her to remember Tamaru.

"I'm going to go check on Tamaru; you guys want to come with?"

"Sure," they replied, and followed Kit to the hut where Tamaru was resting.

They peeked inside to find Tamaru still on the cot, but awake and alert, and exchanged good mornings.

"How are you doing?" Kit asked as she took a seat next to the bed.

"Little better, thanks," Tamaru replied, and Kotu remembered something from the previous day.

"Kit, you never explained what was up with you guys and the Nui Rama yesterday."

"Oh, yeah," said Kit, and she and Tamaru told her and Kai all about their run-in with the giant insects: from when they first attacked, to Kit's seemingly final stand, to how they were ultimately rescued by the Toa.

It took them a little bit to tell the whole story because Tamaru, due to his Le-Matoran nature to exaggerate things a bit, was constantly being reminded by Kit to stick to the point. When they had finally finished, Kai and Kotu were amazed.

"Wow, Kit," Kai exclaimed, "aside from the Toa, you're either the bravest being I know, or the craziest."

Slightly blushing, Kit admitted, "Let's just say I've learned that sometimes 'crazy' works."

A little later, Turaga Nokama walked in on the group, coming to examine Tamaru's wounds, which were healing nicely. However, she had to insist that they let Tamaru get his rest, so they left, promising to come back later. Gali found them and offered to give Kit a tour of the village and surrounding bay, which was a good thing because Kotu and Kai had to get back to their duties, and they bid farewell to their new human friend. For the rest of the day, Gali showed Kit around Ga-Koro, introduced her to the other Ga-Matoran, and even showed her the underwater realm of Ga-Wahi. She took a deep breath of air and jumped in after her tour guide. Kit was just as amazed by the ocean as she was by the jungle; it was just teaming with life with the sea creatures and coral reefs, and the water was as clear as crystal. Suddenly, she realized that her breath had run out and she needed air. She was about to head up to the surface when she remembered that the Toa of Water's mask power was water-breathing and its effects could work on those around Gali as well, and decided to give it a shot. However, she couldn't get herself to let go of her expired breath nor will herself to breathe through her nose. With all of her might, she fought the instinct to rush to the surface. Finally, with her lungs feeling like they were on fire, she opened her mouth and gasped—and didn't drown. She didn't know how exactly it was happening, but she was breathing the oxygen in the water as if she was on land. Gali looked at her with concern, but she reassured the Toa with a nod and they continued with the tour. As she was admiring a school of Ruki fish, she felt Gali tap her shoulder; it was time to head to the surface. A bit reluctantly, she followed the Toa of Water and revealed a big smile when she caught up to her. "That was so incredible," she breathlessly said to the Toa, the wonder of the experience very evident in her voice.

"Are you sure you're alright?" asked Gali.

"Yeah, I'm just not used to breathing underwater, that's all."

Even though Gali didn't have anything of a mouth like Lewa and Kai, Kit still got the impression that the Toa was smiling at her.

"Let's head back," said Gali, and they swam for shore.

When Gali helped Kit onto the rocks, she noticed the crystal.

"What's that?"

"I don't know. I found it around my neck when I arrived here."

"It looks like some kind of crystal."

"Let's ask Nokama, maybe she'll know."

"Alright."

Gali and Kit walked towards the Turaga's hut and, just as they were about to knock, Nokama appeared. "Toa Gali, your services are needed at Onu-Koro."

"What's wrong, Turaga?"

"I just received word that a tunnel has been flooded. Toa Onua could really use your help and expertise."

"I'm on my way."

Gali was about to take off when Kit spoke up.

"Can I come along? I'd love to see more of this island."

Looking to Nokama, Gali asked, "What do you think, Turaga?"

"It's alright with me if it's alright with you, Gali," Nokama nodded, "as long you stay close to her, Kit."

Kit nodded with a pleased smile, jumped in the water with Gali, grabbed hold of the Toa's shoulders, and they took off into a cave that Gali knew led to Onu-Koro. With Gali using both her aqua axes and Kakama, they were able to reach the realm of Onu-Wahi within no time. They emerged in a large cavern, climbed out of the underground river, and Gali produced a lightstone. After shaking herself as dry as possible, Kit looked around, but couldn't find any evidence of a settlement of any kind.

"Where's the village?"

"Not too far from here," Gali replied, and pointed to a bridge that was about a mile away from their position. "We'll need to cross that bridge, then through the tunnel before it. This river is the closest stop to the village when you travel by water from Ga-Koro."

"Alrighty, let's go," Kit said as she took the lead, feeling very eager, and a little nervous, to meet more of the people of Mata-Nui and see more of its sights.

They crossed the bridge without any incident and Gali took the lead when they entered the tunnel. With a row of lightstones on the ceiling to light the way, Gali stored hers. But, when they had walked down a little more than half of the tunnel's length, Kit suddenly felt a chill run down her spine. At first, she thought it was because of her wet clothes, but then the chill was accompanied by a terrible feeling of dread and fear, a feeling that they weren't alone, that something was watching them from the shadows. She looked worriedly into the darkness as best as she could, but her vision in the underground environment was mediocre at best. She wasn't sure, but she could've sworn that the stones had dimmed just a little bit, almost as if a tiny portion of their light was swallowed by the shadows. Gali looked to the girl and noticed she looked a bit tense and apprehensive.

"Are you alright, Kit?"

"Do you get the feeling that someone, or something's, watching us?"

The sound of pebbles hitting rock caught their attention. Gali immediately grabbed Kit and positioned her behind her. Tense moment after tense moment, the human and Toa kept their eyes locked straight ahead, where the sound came from. Soon, a skritch, skritch sound could be heard, and the source of the noise revealed itself. Crawling down the wall, bright yellow eyes glowing, was a tiny Kofo Jaga. While Gali relaxed, Kit quietly released a sigh of relief as the robotic insect continued on its way across the path to the opposite wall, disappearing into a crack, either not noticing or ignoring the travelers.

"Shall we continue?" Gali asked, and Kit nodded.

After walking around a bend that curved to the left, a dim light could be seen; they were almost through. Finally, they walked out of the tunnel, and before them was Onu-Koro.

The village of earth was a spitting image of what Kit always saw on her DVD, except the main cavern looked a bit bigger. Vertical tunnels of sunlight from the surface and scattered lightstones gave the village a dim lighting. Kit found it difficult to keep her eyes on Gali while trying to take in all of the sights at the same time. Before she knew what was happening, she found herself in the very middle of the village, next to a stone stage of some sort, and, right in front of her, was Toa Onua talking to Gali. As the Toa discussed the situation, Kit noticed that a few curious Matoran had noticed her and were staring at her with their green, curious eyes. She waved at them with a small smile, and they waved back. 'They must think that since I'm in the company of a Toa, I must be ok,' she thought.

"Who's your friend, Gali?" a deep voice asked, and Kit reversed her attention to find the Toa of Earth looking at her.

"Onua, this is Kit," Gali introduced as she placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, "Kit, this is one of my brothers, Onua."

With the shock that was now making her brain go on a fritz, all Kit could muster was a shy wave.

The black Toa studied her with his glowing green eyes, then a friendly smile formed on his mask, "Welcome to Onu-Koro."

"Thanks," she quietly responded, and Onua turned to his sister Toa, "Well Gali, shall we begin?"

"Lead the way, Onua," Gali replied, and he led them through a tunnel that he mentioned was the location of the trouble.

Along the way, Kit observed all of the Matoran who were busy at work either mining for protodermis, making new tunnels, or changing the ones that already existed. The miners were so busy digging, they didn't even seem to notice the two Toa and human passing through. Knowing that they weren't doing it to be rude, Kit gave a little shrug; they had work to do. 'Besides,' she added to herself, 'there'll be time for introductions later.' Shortly after that, they reached their destination. The lower portion of the tunnel was indeed flooded and slowly rising.

"We think some digger got a little careless and didn't pay attention until it was too late to realize that he dug to close to a deep lake or river," Onua theorized.

"Was anyone hurt?" Gali asked, and Onua replied with a shake of his head.

"No one was around when it happened, thank Mata Nui."

"I'll dive down and see what I can do. You get ready when the time's right."

Gali dove into the pool, leaving Onua and Kit waiting on the shore.

As they waited, Kit took the opportunity to observe some more, though there wasn't much to look at considering the lightstone she had was small compared to Gali's and it's range of light only covered so much. Onua noticed.

"Don't see that well in the dark, do you?"

"Not very."

Six more minutes passed by, and there was still no sign of Gali. Kit began to get a little concerned.

"You think Gali's doing ok down there? She's been down there a long time."

"Gali's tough, I'm sure she's fine."

The Earth Toa put a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder, as if in effort to calm her. Suddenly, a few bubbles popped up to the surface, causing Kit to gasp. Onua didn't even flinch. Then she noticed that the water level seemed to be receding. At first, Kit was confused, then the solution hit her like a ton of bricks—Gali was using her power over water to make it flow back into its source. As the water continued to retreat, Onua, with Kit in tow, followed until they found Gali. "This is your cue, brother," said the Toa of Water, and the black Toa concurred with a nod. Casually, he walked to a side of the wall, clamped his hands onto a piece of it, and pulled out a boulder. Then, he walked to the hole and plunged the rock into it, making sure it was as secure as a cork on a wine bottle.

Dusting his hands off, Onua turned to the girls and said, "Well, we'd might as well head back to Onu-Koro and inform Turaga Whenua that the leak's taken care of," and they headed back to the village.

When they reached Onu-Koro, Turaga Whenua was waiting for them. "Welcome back, Toa Onua," the Turaga greeted, "I trust the leak has been plugged?"

"Yes, Turaga," replied Onua, and Whenua looked at Kit.

"You must be the human, Kit," he said, and the surprised girl nodded.

"How did you--"

"Turaga Nokama sent word to me and the other Turaga about your arrival."

"Boy, word travels fast around here."

The Turaga chuckled, and, after bidding farewell, Kit and Gali headed back to the river for Ga-Koro. On the way, as she held onto Gali's shoulders, Kit promised herself that as soon as Tamaru was back to full strength, she would ask to explore more of the island.

That night, at Ga-Koro, Nokama was out strolling on the lily pads when she noticed a figure that had become familiar in the village. It was Kit, standing at the farthest end of the village that faced the sea, wrapped in some cloth, and looking out towards the horizon. "It's getting late, Kit," she said as she approached the girl, "You should be getting some sleep."

"I can't sleep," Kit replied, "Too many things are racing through my mind," and Nokama nodded in understanding.

"Everything about this place: the people, the villages, the sights, the smells, just a day ago were things I could only dream of. And now . . . I'm seeing it, but I don't believe it."

"Maybe that's because you're missing the point."

"And, what is the point, exactly?"

"The point is seeing isn't always believing, sometimes believing is seeing."

"What does that mean, Turaga?"

"It simply means people like you, dreamers, don't always have to see places like this to know they exist, you just . . . know."

Kit thought about what Nokama said, then remembered something. "I almost forgot. When I arrived here, I found this crystal around my neck, and I don't recall having it back home. What is it?" Nokama studied the trinket carefully.

"It's definitely a crystal of some sort, but I'm not familiar with its origins. Guard it carefully, Kit."

"Why, Turaga?"

"It's the source of great power, that's all you need to know for now."

Judging from the hushed, low tone the Turaga used, as if she didn't want to take the chance of anyone else hearing them, Kit could tell that Nokama was very serious about this. She nodded, signaling the Turaga of Water that she understood, and she tucked the crystal under her shirt.

* * *

Next time-- 

"Tamaru, could you be so kind as to give Kit a tour of the village?" Matau asked.

"It would my pleasure, Turaga," the Le-Matoran bowed and led Kit towards a bridge as Matau went into a hut that Kit suspected was his and Lewa went off to who-knew-where.

As they walked, Kit couldn't help but notice that some Le-Matoran were watching from a distance, their eyes fixed on her. 'Might as well get used to this,' she said to herself, 'considering I doubt any of them have ever seen a human before.'


	3. LeKoro

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, but Eloro and Lai are my creations.

* * *

The next morning, Tamaru was given a clean bill of health and Turaga Nokama allowed him to return to Le-Koro. Kit could tell that her little friend was really eager to get home. 'I don't blame him,' she said to herself. Of course, she was invited to join Tamaru and Lewa on their trip through the jungle, and she accepted with enthusiasm. She and Lewa thought about flying to Le-Koro; it would be faster and Lewa could carry both her and Tamaru easily. But there was the matter of Tamaru's fear of heights, so, out of courtesy for the Le-Matoran, they decided to 'groundwalk', as Lewa and Tamaru put it. Remembering her promise, Kit went to go talk to Nokama the first chance she got. She thanked the Turaga for allowing her to stay and explained her desire to see more of the island and its inhabitants.

"I thought you would be asking about this sooner or later, Kit," said the Turaga, "so I spoke with the other Turaga. After three day's time in Le-Koro, the Chronicler, Takua, will come to fetch you. From that point on, he will be your guide and companion and the both of you will spend three days at each of the koro."

Kit thanked Nokama and bid farewell to her and all of her new friends at Ga-Koro as she followed Lewa and Tamaru into the jungles of Le-Wahi. Once again, Kit found herself surrounded by green, lush vegetation. Along the way, Tamaru and Lewa educated her about finding the way through the jungle, what can heal, and what can harm. Then, Tamaru started asking Kit questions about where she came from and what it was like. To the best of her ability, Kit answered the curious Le-Matoran's questions. Lewa didn't hide the fact that he was just as interested about this world of 'humans', as Kit called her species, as his villager. Pretty soon, it was too dark to travel any further, so they made camp in a small clearing. After they all settled down, the trio fell fast asleep.

It was halfway through the next day that Lewa asked Kit, "Want to go highflying?"

"Sure."

She hopped onto the Toa's back and Lewa glanced at Tamaru, "You muchsure you don't want to come along, little one?"

"I'm muchsure," Tamaru insisted.

Lewa shrugged, told Kit to hold on, and, taking out his air katana, took off into the sky. Immediately, the wind was rustling through the girl's hair and against her face. It was just when they reached the peak of their ascent that Kit realized there wasn't anything but her arms keeping her attached to her ride, plus Lewa was going kind of fast. This made her nervous at first and made her wonder if she made a mistake. Then, common sense told her that Lewa wouldn't purposely let her fall, and if she did he would somehow save her. Also, as long as she kept her arms around his neck, she'd be fine and, although he was going fast, he wasn't going _that_ fast. This helped her relax enough to enjoy the ride and she braved a look around her.

The view was absolutely stunning; down below was the expanse of the jungle canopy, up above was a blue sky with small clouds scattered here and there, to her left she could just barely see the ocean, and to her right, in the distance, was a white wall of ice that she suspected was where the realms of Le-Wahi and Ko-Wahi met. Kit had traveled through air on airplanes back at home before, but this was nothing compared to that; there was nothing around her but open space, allowing her to look at everything at once and she liked the feeling of wind in her hair. Lewa took them underneath a cloud and, against her better judgment, Kit tentatively reached out a hand and did something she'd always wanted to do—she touched the cloud. It felt damp and cool, but she liked the feeling of the texture on her hand. When her hand exited the cloud, cloud matter trailed it for a good few feet. Kit found herself giggling contentedly; she just loved this.

"Do you muchlike highflying?" asked Lewa.

"Yeah," Kit replied with a smile, "By the way, how much farther do we have to go before we reach Le-Koro?"

"It's not muchfar now. We're going to have to make camp again tonight and we should arrive tomorrow."

Kit nodded and let out a yelp when the Toa of Air made a wide turn. She noticed the jungle canopy was coming closer and realized that they were landing. Once they were on the ground, Kit hopped off the Toa's back. Tamaru jumped down in front of them, out of breath.

"As . . . good . . . of a . . . leafrunner . . . as I am . . . I'll never be able to catch up with you, Toa Lewa."

"Shall we continue?" asked Lewa, and they continued walking, or at least Tamaru tried to. He was so tired from trying to keep up with Lewa and Kit when they were in the air, his legs felt like rubber. Kit noticed and crouched down.

"Hop on."

Tamaru climbed onto the girl's back and they followed Lewa until it was decided that they call it a night.

The next morning, Tamaru was able to walk and they trekked forward. Kit noticed a lot jungle Rahi on the way. Some skittered away at their presence, others ignored them, others watched from a distance. By late morning, they finally reached Le-Koro. The sounds of flutes and drums filled the air and the place was bustling with activity. All around, Matoran were playing music and popping out bundles of leaves. One small group was swinging around amongst some vines and seemed to be playing a game of tag of sorts. Their actions reminded her so much of playful little monkeys she just couldn't stifle a giggle. At that moment, Kit found herself in full agreement with Takua's words—this village was an amazing place to visit. It was basically an entire community of tree houses where you got around either by swinging through the trees or walking on bridges.

Tamaru dashed up the nearest tree while Lewa used his air powers to get up to a walkway. Kit, however, remained on the ground; there was no way she could climb up there. Tamaru's mask appeared from over the guardrail and he cocked his head to the right in a curious fashion.

"Aren't you coming?"

"Love to, but, unfortunately, I can't climb as well you."

Lewa joined the Matoran and reached over the rail, palms facing the ground. At first, Kit wondered what in the world he was doing when she suddenly felt herself lift off the ground and into the air. As she floated she noticed that her skin seemed to be glowing a green color. She looked up and saw that Lewa's mask was also glowing. She let a smile cross her features, her suspicions confirmed—Lewa was using his mask power to levitate her up the tree. Gently and carefully, the Toa let her down on the platform and the green glow dissipated.

"Thanks for the lift."

"You're welcome."

"Toa Lewa, Tamaru, welcome home" an elderly, accented voice called out.

The trio turned to see the green cloaked figure of Turaga Matau approach them, and he patted Tamaru's shoulder.

"It's muchgood to have you back, safe and well, Tamaru."

"It's muchgood to be back, Turaga. But I wouldn't be here if weren't for Kit-friend."

"That's correctright," said Lewa, and he placed a hand on the girl's head, "Kit here's the one who rescuesaved Tamaru from those Rama."

"Oh, stop it you guys. You're making me blush," Kit sheepishly grinned as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Besides, I didn't do that much; all I did was run and get knocked around, scratched, and bruised up by a bunch of overgrown bugs." Matau took a step closer to her.

"Maybe, Kit, but Toa Lewa speaktells me that you stuckplaced yourself between Tamaru and the Rama with nothing to protectdefend yourself but a branchstick. That took a muchgreat amount of courage. Therefore, that was not nothing."

Kit just blushed some more, "I just did what anybody else would've done," and the Turaga nodded with a small smile and a warm glow in his eyes.

Seeing this reminded Lewa of something Gali shared with him after her's and Kit's little excursion to Onu-Koro. She told him about the look Nokama had in her eyes when she saw the girl, a look that looked like remembrance. At first, Lewa thought maybe his sister Toa was mistaken, that she was seeing things, but now seeing the same look in Matau's eyes made him think twice.

"Tamaru, could you be so kind as to give Kit a tour of the village?" Matau asked.

"It would my pleasure, Turaga," the Le-Matoran bowed and led Kit towards a bridge as Matau went into a hut that Kit suspected was his and Lewa went off to who-knew-where.

As they walked, Kit couldn't help but notice that some Le-Matoran were watching from a distance, their eyes fixed on her. 'Might as well get used to this,' she said to herself, 'considering I doubt any of them have ever seen a human before.' She stopped just in time to avoid tripping over Tamaru, who was being greeted by some Matoran she didn't know.

"Kit, these are some of my truefriends, Makani, Sanso, Lai, and Eloro; they are some of Le-Koro's best musicians."

"Hi. So, you guys play music?"

The four Matoran nodded their heads and, upon invitation from Sanso, were followed by Kit and her guide to the hut where they were practicing. Immediately, a sweet harmony filled the air; Makani beated on a drum, Sanso worked on what looked like a xylophone of sorts, Eloro used a reed pipe, and Lai and Tamaru, who decided to join in, played on a couple of flutes. Kit listened intently, sensing that the melody had a lively, playful tune that seemed to match the attitude of the villagers.

When they'd finished, she applauded, "Wow, you guys are good."

"Do you play an instrument, Kit?" Sanso asked.

"Not anymore, unfortunately. I used to play the clarinet."

She didn't need three guesses to figure out why the band cocked their heads.

"Think of it as a flute, but bigger, longer, and it has more holes."

They all nodded in understanding, and Kit and Tamaru politely excused themselves and continued with the tour. Eventually, they made their way to the huts where all of the Gukko Patrol birds were kept. On the platform was a Matoran with a turquoise Miru tending to a bird that was a bit larger than the other birds. Kit knew there was only one Le-Matoran who flew such a bird.

"Kongu!"

"Tamaru!"

The two Matoran greeted each other with a slap on the back and fist, after which Tamaru introduced Kit to the Captain of the Gukko Patrol.

"Welcome to Le-Koro, Kit-friend."

"Thanks. Is that your bird?"

The Matoran nodded his head, "This is Ka," and he patted the bird's neck before getting onto its back with ease. "Want a ride?" he asked with a cock of his head toward the second's seat behind him. Kit let out a nervous laugh, but came closer when Kongu insisted.

"You sure I won't be too heavy for him, or anything?"

"Muchsure."

Taking Kongu's word for it, Kit swung a leg over Ka's back, sat down, and grabbed hold of Kongu's shoulders. Kongu then signaled to a Matoran up ahead who started moving a pair of green stones in all different directions, and Ka started flapping his wings. Finally, the signal was given, and, with wings spread out and a running start, Ka, Kongu, and Kit took off into the sky. The mount's beating wings produced a loud humming sound, but the experience was exhilarating none the less. Kongu had Ka perform all sorts of wide and sharp turns, almost as if they were moving through an invisible obstacle course in the air. After what seemed like only a few minutes, Kongu had Ka come in for a landing on the same platform where they left Tamaru, who was patiently waiting for them.

"Thanks for the ride, Kongu."

"You're muchwelcome."

Ka cocked his head at the girl in a friendly and curious manner, and she gave the bird a gentle stroke on the beak, from which the bird started cooing softly. "Kit," said Kongu, "would you be interested to learn how to windfly a Gukko bird tomorrow?"

The question took Kit totally by surprise; of course she was interested. Before she knew what she was thinking, she replied, "Sure."

"Good, I'll see you at morningdawn then."

Kit thanked him for the ride again and rejoined Tamaru.

That night, Matau found Kit sitting on the edge of a platform, her legs dangling over and staring off in the distance.

"Hello."

"Hi."

"Mind if I join you?"

"Join the crowd."

Matau took a seat next to the teenager and looked at her. He recognized the look on her face and in her eyes.

"What are you deepthinking about?"

"Home. I'm betting my family's worried about me by now."

Matau nodded in understanding, and placed a hand across her shoulder, "We'll wayfind a way to get you home." Kit nodded, and politely excused herself to turn in for the night.

"Thanks for the hut, Turaga."

"No problem, and goodnight, Kit."

Inside the hut where she was staying, Kit took off her shoes and lied down on the cot. In her mind, Matau's promise repeated itself, and though she wasn't that worried about finding a way back just yet, she did wish there was some way she could at least contact her family to let them know she was ok. Before she knew it, her eyelids were closing by themselves.

* * *

Next time--

All of this time Kit sat, shaking badly, though she wasn't sure whether it was out of intense excitement or terror and decided it was probably a little bit of both. Daring to chance a look out the window, she spotted a Matoran and his second fighting a Nui Rama. The second struck the bug with a disc and, injured, the flying Rahi retreated. However, the victory was short lived when another Rama attacked them from behind, causing the bird and its riders to fall.


	4. Rama Attack

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

The next morning, Kit awoke and, for a moment, almost forgot about her flying lesson with Kongu. She quickly stretched, put her shoes on, and headed toward the Gukko platform. When she got there, there was no one around. 'At least I'm not late,' she said to herself.

"Kit,' a voice called out and, turning to her backside, she saw Kongu on a branch a level up and he waved to her.

As she waved back, the Le-Matoran slid down a nearby vine and landed right in front of her.

"Ready for your first highflying lesson?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"I'll quickget Ka and a Gukko."

Kit didn't need to wait long. Within minutes Kongu was back with their winged mounts. She silently admitted to herself that she was rather nervous, but there was no way she was going to back down now. She listened carefully as Kongu explained how to properly control and handle a Gukko in the air, noting how the birds were sensitive to the handlebars that were used to steer them. Then, Kongu demonstrated how to make the bird take off, slightly lifting the bars up. Ka lifted into the air until they were a good twenty-five feet up, where Kongu had him pause in midair and looked down at Kit. Taking a deep breath, Kit slightly lifted the bars on her bird and was responsively lifted into the air. Once she reached Kongu, the Le-Matoran nodded his head. "Very good; now, to steer your Gukko, all you have to do is weightlean in the direction you want to waygo. Follow me." He flew towards the horizon with Kit behind him, and she found it a bit of a relief that her Gukko was proving to be very responsive. The lesson reminded her of 'Follow the Leader'. She just basically tried to copy Kongu's maneuvers, turning when he turned and where he turned to. Although it seemed simple enough, there were some techniques that Kit either faltered or just couldn't bring herself to do like the loop de loops and twists. Fortunately, Kongu proved to be a very patient teacher. "You'll get the hang of it," he assured her, "No need to rushhurry." It was around early afternoon when they decided to call it a day and they came into the Gukko platform for a landing. Kongu's landing was nice and smooth but, while Kit's wasn't bad for a beginner, it still looked a little bumpy. Finally, the Gukko extended its legs and settled on the platform, allowing Kit to dismount. "Not bad for a beginner," said Kongu, "and a human."

"Thanks, I think."

Later, Kit decided to wander around the village a bit by herself. As she proceeded toward a bridge, she was observing some birds in a neighboring tree when she suddenly felt herself falling. After a few feet, her fall was broken. Puzzled, she looked around herself to find that she landed in a vine net. When she looked up, there was no bridge, as if it was never there. "What the--" she wondered, and a hearty laugh was heard from above as a Mahiki masked face peered over the edge. That was when Kit understood—Matau used his mask's power of illusion to create a hologram of a bridge, and she fell for it, literally. She frowned at the elder, "Very funny Turaga, very funny. Now if you're done laughing your head off, would someone not mind helping me back up?"

"No problem," said Lewa as he joined Matau, and the Toa of Air used his levitation powers to lift her up, just like before.

Once she was at the edge, she reached out her hands to the Toa and Turaga and they guided her back onto the platform. "You know it wasn't _that_ funny, Matau; I could've died considering how high up we are," Kit said as she dusted herself off.

"Highly unlikely," replied Matau, "I'd never do such a trickprank if I wasn't absolutely sure you would survive it."

'In other words,' she thought to herself, 'he doesn't just do the pranks on a whim, he thinks them through so his 'victims' don't get hurt or killed,' and, with this knowledge in mind, she couldn't help but let loose a laugh of her own at the Turaga's joke.

Suddenly, a call began resounding all over the village.

Up above them, a Le-Matoran landed on a branch and pointed towards the eastern part of the village as he called out, "Rama!" Kit, Lewa, and Matau stole a look and sure enough there was the telltale black, buzzing cloud of a Nui Rama swarm heading their direction.

"Sorry Turaga, Kit; duty calls," said Lewa, and the Air Toa took to the sky to join the birdfighters who'd already dispatched.

Kit felt Matau tug on her arm, "Quickhurry Kit, we must get inside our huts."

Kit nodded and ran towards her hut. Once inside, she slammed the door shut and locked it. Panting, both out of exhaustion and anxiety, she carefully walked backwards until she felt the cot behind her and sat down. Outside she heard the sounds of battle: huge wings humming or buzzing, the trills of the birds, the screeches of the huge bugs, the whizzing of the discs, the clang of a disc striking a Rama, and the occasional loud thud of a Rama crashing to the ground below. All of this time Kit sat, shaking badly, though she wasn't sure whether it was out of intense excitement or terror and decided it was probably a little bit of both. Daring to chance a look out the window, she spotted a Matoran and his second fighting a Nui Rama. The second struck the bug with a disc and, injured, the flying Rahi retreated. However, the victory was short lived when another Rama attacked them from behind, causing the bird and its riders to fall. Horrorstruck, Kit watched as the trio crash landed on the Gukko platform and, with no regard for her own safety, she unlocked the door and ran towards the crash site. There, she found the two Matoran unconscious, but otherwise unhurt, and the Gukko stood and shook itself. It appeared to be unscathed from the fall as well. Looking up, she saw that the Matoran and Lewa were putting up quite a fight, but the more Rama they brought down, the more that kept coming as if there was no end to the swarm's numbers. It was clear that the other birdfighters needed some help, but she couldn't just leave those two Matoran there. Then, she spotted some Matoran at the edge of the platform and called to them as she waved. "Hey, can you guys look after these two?" she asked them when they approached.

"Yeah, sure," one of them replied, and, with help from his fellow villagers, the pilot and his assistant were carried into a nearby hut.

With that taken care of, Kit turned to the Gukko, her eyes filled with determination. "C'mon fella," she commanded as she mounted the bird and, with adrenaline kicking in, she gave a firm kick to the bird's side.

The Gukko trilled and took to the sky at full speed, right into the middle of the battle. Grabbing what few discs were left on the roster, Kit threw them at the surrounding Rama and flew towards the trees where she grabbed as many melons as she could carry. Some angry Rama chased after her, and Kit threw a few at them, blinding them with the juice that splattered all over their eyes. Seizing the opportunity, Kit steered her aerial steed back to the 'battlefield'. The Rama resumed their pursuit, Kit urged her ride to go the fastest it could go, and she threw three more melons at the Rama behind her, getting three bull's-eyes. Blinded as they were, the three bugs were unable to avoid the trees in time, crashing into them and sliding down to the ground. Kit laughed at the sight and threw more melons at the remaining Rama behind her. Pretty soon, some of the Rama caught on to the girl's strategy and started dodging the fruity projectiles. However, this would cause them to either lose control or bump into each other and they'd get into a heated argument, causing them to fall victim to the other birdfighters and Toa Lewa. When she ran out of melons and couldn't shake off the bugs long enough to grab some more, Kit came up with another plan. Making the Gukko perform a sharp turn, she flew straight at the small swarm, taking the Rama totally by surprise. Acting purely on instinct, Kit started doing all sorts of flips, loops, and twists to either avoid a Nui Rama or to trick them into flying into each other. It felt like a huge video game to her, except, in this 'game' the enemy could actually hurt or kill you and there were no extra lives. Kit was so into the battle, she didn't realize that the sky was open and blue until she heard someone call her name.

Looking downward, she saw the green form of Lewa flying towards her, "The birdbattle's over; we won."

Kit gave him a sheepish look as she rubbed the back of her head, "I guess I kind of got caught in the heat of the battle."

Lewa nodded with a smile. He understood exactly what she meant.

"Let's get back to the village."

"Sure."

As Lewa joined the villagers, Kit noticed that her Gukko was panting a bit. "You can take your time," she said as she patted the bird's shoulder, "you've earned it." The bird chirped as if it were saying thank you and slowly followed the other Gukko Patrol birds home.

Once they'd landed, Kit dismounted the Gukko bird and it headed to a hut where Kit believed was its stable and Kongu approached her. "Mata Nui, where did you learn to highfly like that, Kit?"

"Like what?"

"Like a mindcrazed birdfighter, that's what," said Tamaru with astonishment in his voice, and he and the birdfighters gave the girl the lowdown of her maneuvers during the battle.

When they had finished, Kit was nearly speechless; for some reason, everything about her described role in the fight was a blur.

"I didn't learn it anywhere; I just made it up as I went along, just followed my instincts."

"And that is how a truehearted birdfighter does it," Kongu said as he placed a hand on the girl's elbow, considering that was as high up as he could reach.

"Indeed," said a voice, and Turaga Matau stepped up to her next to his right hand man.

"What about that Gukko's pilot and wingman? Are they ok?" Kit asked as she pointed to the bird in its stable.

"They're fine, and, thanks to you, Toa Lewa, and our other birdfighters, the hurtdamage was only minimal."

Kit looked around and, sure enough, saw that some huts, platforms, walkways, and bridges were a little torn up, but nothing some vines and leaves wouldn't fix. "Now then, let's repairfix and clean up the place, shall we?" said Matau, and everyone headed further into the village. Everyone, that is, except Kit, who found herself observing the Gukko bird and making a mental note to herself. Then, she ran to catch up with Matau and the villagers.

No time was wasted in getting to work on repairing the village. While some Matoran gathered and brought back supplies from the jungle, others, including Matau, Lewa, and Kit, helped tie poles and leaves, patch up holes on platforms, discard anything that was deemed beyond repair, and make new ladders and portions of bridges and walkways. By sunset everything was fixed and back in order. At this point, Kit was at the Guuko platform, walking toward one particular hut. The Gukko bird inside perked its head up as she walked in. "Sorry to disturb your nap," she apologized as she stroked its neck, "but I thought a hard-working bird deserved a little treat. From what I've been told, I made you do all sorts of wild stunts." From her pocket she took out a pouch, dipped her hand inside, and it came out with a couple of bright red berries in her palm. The Gukko didn't need to be coaxed twice; it took one berry in its beak and, with a flick of its neck, it swallowed it and went for the other one.

"Doing alright?" a voice outside asked.

Kit turned to see Kongu standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, I don't think it's anything a couple of Bula berries and a good night's rest won't fix."

She patted the bird's shoulder and joined the Le-Matoran. "Oh, I almost forgot," said Kongu, and he gave Kit a nicely crafted wooden flute, not too different from the ones Tamaru and Lai were playing the other day.

"What's this?"

"A flute."

"I can see that."

With a mischievous smile, Kongu elaborated.

"We trainteach our birds to respondanswer to a certain tunemelody that you blowplay on this flute. Wherever you are, a Gukko bird will come to your side. I can teach you, if you like."

"Kongu, I can't--"

"Please, I insist."

Kit looked at the flute in her hands, then at Kongu, and back at the flute again. "Thanks," was all she could say with a smile, and Kongu nodded approvingly. "So, how do you play that tune that summons the birds?" she asked, and, rather eagerly, Kongu taught her the musical signal.

Kit handed him the instrument and he played the tune a few times, causing a few feathered heads to peek out of their stables.

"See? Now you try," he said as handed the flute back to Kit.

Letting her lips close around the mouthpiece, Kit mimicked the sequence Kongu showed her, and the same whistle-like sound came out perfectly. As if in response, they heard a bird call from one the other stables and a smaller Gukko came flying at them. Kit guessed this bird was a young one, considering how small it was compared to the other birds. As it landed, it gave her look as if it was asking, "You called?"

"At least we know it works," Kit giggled, and Kongu told it to go back in its hut.

Suddenly, music from the center of the village could be heard and Kit saw lights that looked like torches. "The celebration's starting," said Kongu, "Let's go."

"Celebration?"

"Yeah, to celebrate another battlevictory over the Rama. You coming?"

"Sure, why not."

As she followed the Le-Matoran captain, Kit practiced on her new flute. When they arrived, she was playing some simple melodies. At the party, Matoran were dancing and singing and the band was playing. Even Lewa and Matau joined in the fun. While Kongu excused himself to go talk to some Gukko Patrol friends, Kit heard Sanso call her name and saw him waving to her, beckoning her to come closer to the band area.

"Hey Sanso, guys, how are you doing?"

"Very goodwell, thanks, especially with those Rama gone."

"Why don't you join us, Kit? I spotsee you have a flute," Makani invited.

"I don't know, guys; I'm nowhere near as good as you are."

"That doesn't matter; if you can blowplay a tune, you can joinplay," said Eloro.

Giving in, Kit stood next to Sanso and started playing her new flute. Once she got into the flow of it, she found herself really enjoying the party. It felt so nice to be playing an instrument again. After a while, she excused herself from the band playing and walked around to see the rest of the festivities. She sampled a few juices and fruits, including the kind of melon that she used as a weapon earlier, before realizing how tired she was. With permission from Matau to turn in for the night, Kit entered her hut, laid down on the cot, and immediately fell asleep.

* * *

Next time--

Feeling something tap his shoulder, he glanced back, only to see nothing. Two more taps, and twice the Turaga looked behind to nothing. "What in Mata Nui's name is going on here?" he asked no one in particular.

Then, from behind, came a shout, "Boo!"

Matau let out a cry of fear and surprise and jumped a good five feet in the air. When he turned around, he found a hysterically laughing Kit hanging upside down from a tree branch.

"Gotcha," she said.


	5. Onward

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

The next morning, Kit heard faint voices and, rubbing her eyes and yawning, she looked out the door and saw that some Matoran and Lewa were cleaning up what was left of the party. She shrugged as she considered offering a hand. 'Not like I have anything better to do at the moment.' As she helped gather some vines, an idea crossed her mind—there was at least one thing she wanted to do before she had to leave and a playful smile formed on her face. When the clean up was done, Kit took a small, thin vine and made her way to Matau's hut. Mindful to stay in the cover of the leaves, she spied him observing some flowers. 'Good,' she thought, and she snuck in as quietly as a mouse through the window. Spotting what she was looking for, she tied one end of the vine to her quarry, set it back down, and keeping her ears open for the Turaga, who was heading for the way she came in, she silently walked backwards towards the door. As she made her way through, she made sure that the vine was as camouflaged as possible. Once in position, she sat with the remaining length of the vine, waiting.

Ready to do his morning round through the village, Matau strolled into his hut and took a moment to listen to some birds somewhere out in the jungle as he absentmindedly reached out for his Kaukau staff, only to grasp open air. He looked around, confused; he was certain that he left it at the foot of his cot. "Ah, there it is," he said when he found it lying on the floor. "Must've fell," and he reached out to grab it. However, the staff moved, causing the Turaga's eyes to widen in surprise. He reached again, and again, and again, and each time the staff moved an inch away from his grasp. "Since when does a rodstaff have a brainmind of its own?" he wondered as he scratched his head and, for a moment, wondered if it was possible that either Lewa, Kongu, or even Tamaru could somehow be behind this. Then, he remembered that Lewa was out in the jungle somewhere, Tamaru was guiding the Chronicler towards the village, and Kongu was scouting. He tried grabbing the staff a few more times, but it still retreated towards the door. Turning his back to it, Matau started whistling to himself, as if trying to convince the artifact that he was no longer interested in it. Then, with an agility his form didn't show, Matau leaped and grabbed the staff, and this time it didn't move. It was then that he noticed the vine tied around the top of the staff, and he followed its length. When he came to the end of the vine, there was nothing there, and there was no sign of anybody near by. Feeling something tap his shoulder, he glanced back, only to see nothing. Two more taps, and twice the Turaga looked behind to nothing. "What in Mata Nui's name is going on here?" he asked no one in particular.

Then, from behind, came a shout, "Boo!"

Matau let out a cry of fear and surprise and jumped a good five feet in the air. When he turned around, he found a hysterically laughing Kit hanging upside down from a tree branch.

"Gotcha," she said.

"You muchsure did," agreed Matau, holding a hand up to his chest and laughing as he steadied himself with his staff, "You learn quickfast."

"But just for the record, that was for the bridge illusion the other day," she confessed as she grabbed the branch, flipped herself right-side up, and landed on the platform.

"I guessedthought as much," he acknowledged with a raised eyebrow and a wry smile, then he walked toward the inner part of the village as Kit followed him.

"Today's the day, isn't it?" asked the Turaga.

"Yeah," Kit confirmed with a bit of a lonely tone.

"Do you have everything storedpacked?"

"Not much to pack, but yes. Any idea when Takua's supposed to arrive?"

"According to Kongu, with Tamaru wayleading him, he should be here within the hour."

Kit observed the newly repaired huts and the Matoran as they continued doing what they did best—having fun.

"I'm going to miss this place."

She felt Matau place a hand on her shoulder.

"You're muchmore than welcome to visit again, Kit-friend."

"Thanks, Matau."

As the hour slowly wore on, Kit took the opportunity to walk around Le-Koro one last time. She just got done with the Gukko platform when she heard Kongu's voice saying something like, "Chronicler!" Trotting towards the railing, she looked towards the ground and, sure enough, there was the familiar Ta-Matoran with the blue mask riding on his pet Ussal crab.

When he spotted her, he waved, "Hi, you must be Kit."

"Yeah," she called down to him and she climbed over the railing, jumped, and slid down a vine to the ground. Takua hopped off of his crab and approached her.

"Kit, if it's alright with you, I was kind of wondering if we could stay a little longer. I have some friends here that I haven't seen or heard from in a while."

"Sure, it's fine with me."

Kit noticed that the Matoran's eyes seemed to glow with excitement, and, with a quick thanks, he scrambled up the vine to go see his friends, and Kit followed him. While Takua was busy getting reacquainted with Kongu and Tamaru, Kit found Sanso and the rest of the Le-Koro band and proceeded with her goodbyes. An hour later, Kit and Takua bid farewell to their tree roaming friends and left the carefree treetop village. "So, what's our first stop, Takua?" Kit asked after a while.

"Well, I thought we'd head towards Ko-Koro, then from there make our way to Onu-Koro."

"Sounds good to me. I didn't really get a chance to check out Onu-Koro the last time I was there."

And so, with a plan in mind, they continued down the path.

That night, they camped out in a small clearing and took the opportunity to get to know each other better. At first, Kit found Pewku's claws a bit intimidating, but she let the curious Ussal crab sniff her hand and snuggle next to her. "Looks like Pewku's found a new friend," Takua chuckled. When she was no longer content with licking her hand, Pewku started trying to climb up to Kit's face. She managed to kiss the human girl's cheek a couple of times before Kit gently pushed her down and stroked the Rahi's head. The next morning, they found the entrance to an Onu-Wahi tunnel and Takua took out a lightstone from his pack to lead the way. Kit was admiring the workmanship of the tunnel when she felt a familiar feeling creep through her body; the feeling of dread that she felt when she first visited Onu-Koro. Ahead of her, Takua and Pewku's forms seemed to darken and the light from the Matoran's lightstone appeared to dim a bit. Within moments, she was getting a feeling of déjà vu; everything was beginning to look and feel way too familiar for her liking.

"Kit," a deep, menacing voice whispered in her ear, as if who ever spoke was right next to her.

The whisper was so low, Kit wasn't sure she actually heard it, yet, it was still frightening all the same and it made her freeze in her tracks. Nearly frantic, she found herself starting to breathe fast breaths and looking around in fear. "Kit," another voice called out, and she recognized it as Takua. He and Pewku were about eight yards ahead of her. "You coming?"

"Um . . . yeah, coming," she called back, willing herself to calm down, and she trotted forward.

When she came closer, the Ta-Matoran noticed she looked a bit frightened.

"Are you ok?"

"Did you hear something just a minute ago?"

"Like what?"

"Like a whispering, scary sounding voice."

Takua thought for a moment.

"No. Why do you ask?"

"I thought I did, but I'm not absolutely sure."

"It must be the tunnels," Takua shrugged, "I honestly don't know how the Onu-Matoran deal with it, but sometimes, if you stay down here too long, it feels like the darkness gets to you and you start hearing and/or seeing things."

"Maybe," Kit nodded, then Takua took her hand with his free one and led her on.

As they walked, Kit admitted to herself that she felt much better feeling Takua's hand in hers and Pewku by their side. However, she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever happened back there wasn't normal.

After two days of walking, breaks for meals and rest included, Kit felt that they were getting close to the ice region of the island before they even exited the Onu-Wahi tunnel—an ice cold breeze chilled her skin. Finally, they reached the exit of the tunnel where the region of Ko-Wahi was laid out before them and Kit was once again reminded that every geographic location of Mata Nui had its own kind of natural beauty if you knew where to look. All around, the crystal white snow glistened from the afternoon sunlight and the surrounding mountains and glaciers appeared to reach for the sky. With the space, the openness, the view, it looked like something she'd only seen in a book or a travel magazine. "There's Mt. Ihu; the village is not too far away," announced Takua, and Kit looked to where he was pointing. She couldn't believe her eyes; the other mountains and glaciers were nothing compared to Mt. Ihu. It was so tall, she couldn't even see the top and it seemed to touch the sky. It stood there like a majestic lord over looking its domain.

* * *

Next time--

"Heads up!" Hewkii shouted, and they turned their attention just in time to see the ball heading for them. Having little time to think of anything else, Kit got on her feet in a flash and kicked the ball into a goal in the field down below. Takua and Hewkii looked at her, stunned.


	6. Ice, Earth, and Stone

Disclaimer: I don't Bionicle.

* * *

As they trekked toward the village, they came across some Ko-Matoran working on an ice bridge. Takua recognized one of them as Kopeke and trotted as best as he could in the snow to greet his friend. When he introduced Kit, the white Matoran simply nodded his head. Picking up his tools, Kopeke motioned for the group to follow him to the village. Eventually, Kit wrapped her arms around herself to try to keep warm; it was starting to get really chilly and she was beginning to wish she had a coat. "Just out of curiosity, what were you and your friends doing on that bridge, Kopeke?" she asked.

"Repairs," he simply answered. Before Kit could say anything else, Kopeke stopped. "We're here."

She looked ahead to see what looked like an entrance gate carved into an ice wall—the entrance to Ko-Koro. They followed their Ko-Matoran guide inside where it was slightly warmer. "I see you're no more used to the cold than I am," Takua remarked, and Kit replied with a small smile. Hearing the clicking of something tapping the ground, they looked to see Turaga Nuju and Matoro, his translator, coming toward them. Kopeke bowed to his village elder.

"They have arrived, Turaga."

Nuju nodded and addressed Kit with a series of clicks and whistles. Matoro translated, "The Turaga welcomes both you and the Chronicler to our village, Kit." He paused to translate the rest of Nuju's greeting, "And he has temporary lodgings set up for you." Kit just nodded when she suddenly heard the soft crunching sound of feet walking on the snow and turned around. Before her stood the tall, white form of Kopaka, the Toa of Ice.

"I'll take it that this female is the one I've been informed about, Turaga?" he asked in a low voice, and Nuju nodded.

As Kopaka activated his scope, causing it to whir and spin, Kit felt like he was trying to examine every little detail about her, from her height and width, to the very pupils of her eyes. 'He's probably trying to get some kind of x-ray diagram of me right now,' she thought a bit uncomfortably as the Toa continued to scrutinize her with his scope. Finally, the scope returned to its normal state and Kopaka nodded to the girl.

"Welcome," he greeted, and he walked off.

After that, the Turaga had Kit and Takua shown to the huts where they would be staying. Shortly afterwards, Takua offered to show Kit around the village. Later, he politely excused himself to see if any of his Ko-Matoran friends were in as much of a talkative mood as he could manage to get them, leaving Kit to do some exploring of her own. It was then that she realized how quiet Ko-Koro was compared to the other three koro she visited. Everyone was either quietly working or meditating and the most she ever got from any of the residents was either a wave or a quiet "hello."

'Then again, I didn't really expect them to be the sociable types,' she said to herself, remembering that the residents of Ko-Koro usually liked to keep to themselves.

Despite this, however, she could sense that they were just as interested in her as the Onu-Matoran and Le-Matoran were.

That night, Nuju and Matoro were heading to their respective huts when they noticed a light in the hall that housed the Wall of Prophecy. They were rather confused because they thought everyone had turned in for the night. When they entered to investigate, they discovered that Kit was responsible for the light. At the moment, she was observing the Matoran writing on the wall. Their entrance was so quiet, she didn't even know they were there until Nuju conversed in whistles and clicks. Matoro translated, "The Turaga wishes to know what you're doing here at this hour."

"Just looking; I figured since for all we know I could be staying here for a while, I might as well try to learn Matoran writing, and I thought this wall would be the perfect place to start. I'm not in trouble, am I?"

Nuju's response was a shrill whistle that Kit guessed was some form of a chuckle, followed with a shake of his head and more clicks and hand gestures. Matoro translated, "No, Kit, you're not in any trouble, but you really should get some sleep."

Kit stretched her arms into the air and rubbed her eyes sleepily. "I guess you're right," and she walked out the hallway as she waved good night to Nuju and Matoro.

As they exited, the Turaga whistled and clicked away at his interpreter. He had a plan.

The next morning, Kit and Takua caught Kopeke and some of his friends in a game of Huai Snowball Sling and joined in. Kit managed to get a few opponents real good in the face. After the game, Matoro approached Kit and asked her to come with him. She followed him to Nuju's hut, where the Turaga was waiting for them and he began to whistle. Matoro translated, "The Turaga says that if you wish to learn what you can of our written circle language in the few days you have left, he'd be willing to teach you."

"For real?"

Nuju nodded and communicated through some clicks and hand gestures, which Matoro translated, "But, you're going to have to practice real hard."

"I will," said Kit, "You can count on me."

And so, Kit's education in Matoran writing and numbers began. It was a bit of a challenge at first—remembering all of the patterns for every letter and number—but she was determined to succeed; she didn't want Nuju to regret ever agreeing to teach her. That's why she even worked on writing some sentences and equations in Matoran into the night. By the third day, Turaga Nuju declared that she mastered the Matoran alphabet and number system. "The Turaga's impressed," Matoro translated, "You've done very well in your studies."

"Well, it wasn't that difficult once I got the hang of it."

"Still, this is saying something," then he whispered to her, "Turaga Nuju's not that easy to impress, and I should know."

'Yeah, I bet you would know,' Kit said to herself.

The next day, it was time for Kit and Takua to move on. Kit thanked Nuju for the writing lessons and left after she and Takua bade farewell to the Ko-Matoran. After being guided to the tunnel that they were told would be the best route to their next stop, Takua thanked their Ko-Matoran escort and walked inside.

Three days passed by before the group made it to the underground village of Onu-Koro. They were enthusiastically welcomed by Turaga Whenua, Onua, and a few Onu-Matoran. At the request of the Turaga, Onepu showed them where they would be staying; Takua would be an honored guest at Onepu's hut, while Kit would have a spare one to herself. Later, when all of the miners started coming in for the day, Takua introduced Kit to some other Onu-Matoran friends of his. After that, Kit was so exhausted she politely excused herself from the group to turn in for the night. She was out like a light within seconds after she lay down on the cot.

The next few days were quite interesting. In between diggings, Onua gave Kit her first official tour of the village. When she wasn't being given tours, she hung out with Takua, Turaga Whenua, Onepu, and/or Taipu. It was on her first full day she met Nuparu, the Onu-Matoran engineer. She was passing by a hut when she heard a crash inside. Rushing through the door, she spotted and gasped when before her stood a Bohrok. At least, she thought it was a Bohrok at first. Upon closer inspection, she discovered it was actually a Boxor. Next to it, sprawled on the floor and lost in a pile of what looked like boxes and chairs, was Nuparu struggling to get up. "Are you ok?" she asked as she walked in.

"Yeah, I think so," he replied.

He reached out for a helping hand, which Kit provided, and she pulled him out of the pile onto his feet. That's when he got a good look at her.

"Oh, it's you."

"Me?"

"The one Whenua calls Kit."

"Oh, right. I am."

"My name's Nuparu, by the way."

"Nice to meet you. So, what exactly were you doing down there, Nuparu?"

"I was trying to work on this Boxor here, only the spot that needs working on is at the very top, so I made a make-shift ladder with whatever I could find. As you can see, it didn't work as well as I thought it would."

Kit looked at the Boxor, then at the Onu-Matoran, and back at the Boxor again. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Nuparu thought for a moment. "If you could give me a boost up to the top of its helmet that would be great." Kit placed her hands under the Matoran's arms and gently placed him onto her shoulders, and he got to work on the Boxor's trouble spot. Within minutes, he was finished and he thanked Kit for her assistance.

The next few days seemed to pass by really quickly and, before Kit knew it, she and Takua were on their way again. "Next stop—Po-Koro," the Chronicler announced, and led the way. At first, Kit was a bit nervous about traveling through a tunnel again; the last two times were not very pleasant. Thankfully, however, that was not the case at all this time. She didn't hear or feel anything unnatural and was quite relieved.

The traveling trio trekked through the maze of caves for about two days until they entered the Po-Wahi desert. Takua and Kit found themselves having to shield their eyes until they got used to the bright sunlight. 'Now I know how those Onu-Matoran feel when they have to come out of their little holes,' Kit thought. The air was so hot compared to what she was used to, she felt like she was suffocating for a minute. Given a few moments, her breathing adjusted to the humidity, and so did the rest of her body. Almost immediately she felt like she was in a semi hot oven, and the breeze that blew in her face was not as cool as she would've liked. Still, it was nice to be out in the light and open space again. As she scoped out their surroundings, she noticed that to their right laid a crevass.

"That's the northern end of the Tiro Canyon," Takua announced, "We're close to the village."

Kit continued to scan the area as they continued on their way. All around there were sand mounds and dunes as well as mesas where Takua explained was where the desert villagers got the stone they used for carving and building. 'Might want to try climbing those sometime,' she said to herself. Every now and then, the group stopped to rest and cool down a bit in whatever shade they could find. During one of these breaks, Pewku spied a little bug and started using her claws to turn it over end over end. Takua and Kit, realizing she was teasing the insect as a form of entertainment, couldn't help but laugh as the crab enjoyed herself. Later, they spotted a group of fusa on a nearby dune. For a moment, one fusa eyed them curiously, then hopped off to rejoin its herd. As the sun continued to descend, the temperature began to drop and Kit could feel her body cooling down. On a rock pillar ahead of them, they saw a small figure. At first, Kit thought it was some kind of Rahi until Takua recognized it as a familiar mask. "It's Hafu," he proclaimed with excitement.

"C'mon," Kit nudged, and trotted away.

Takua didn't need anymore prompting; he hopped onto Pewku's back and followed the girl.

"Hafu!" the Po-Matoran heard someone call.

Looking down, he spotted his friend, Takua, his pet crab, and another creature that he never saw before run up to him. Carefully, he climbed down from his latest masterpiece and greeted the group. "Takua, how've you been?"

"I've been good, thanks. How about you?"

"Great. So, who's your companion?"

"This is Kit, a human girl who I've been showing around the island."

Hafu's eyes widened.

"So you're the Kit that Turaga Onewa informed the village about."

"Yep."

"In that case, allow me to escort you the rest of the way to Po-Koro."

With Hafu in the lead, they continued on their way. After walking for another hour, up ahead Kit could see what looked like two columns of stone faces. "Is that the Path of Prophecies?" she asked Hafu.

"Yes," he answered, "Carved each statue all by myself."

"They're awesome, Hafu. You should be proud of yourself."

"Thank you and I am. Wait . . . 'awesome' is a good thing, right?"

Kit chuckled and replied, "Yes," as she patted the little carver's head, who she could sense was smiling.

As the sun neared the horizon, they reached the gate that led into the village and they were allowed in. There were goat-like Mahi pulling carts and Matoran either chatting with friends, trading, or calling out from their market stands all over the place. Kit admitted that, even though it wasn't Le-Koro, Po-Koro was still full of activity. Although, it was because of this activity that she found it a bit difficult to keep up with Takua and Hafu, let alone keep track of them. Somehow, though, she was able to follow them through the crowd toward a hut, where Hafu knocked. A hunched over figure walked through the doorway—Turaga Onewa. After Onewa welcomed them to the village, Kit and Takua were given a chance to visit with Hafu and Hewkii for the few hours of daylight they had left. Afterwards, they were so exhausted they decided to get some sleep; it had been a long, hot day, at least for Kit.

The next morning, Takua offered to show Kit around the marketplace. Matoran traders were selling or trading just about anything from kohlii balls and carving tools to food. As they left the marketplace, they came across some pens where some mahi were kept. One particular mahi came right up to the gate, where Kit gently scratched its head. When she stopped to continue following Takua, she felt something tug on her leg. It was the mahi holding onto a piece of her jean leg in its mouth. "Let go, you silly Rahi," she chided gently, and she managed to tug herself free. Shortly after, they found themselves at the kohlii field where Hewkii was kicking around a ball.

"Hi Hewkii, how are you doing?" asked Takua.

"Hi Takua, Kit. Doing fine, thanks."

"What are you up to here, Hewkii?" asked Kit.

"I like to come here to practice when it's a bit cooler outside."

Hewkii, with precision born of experience, kicked the ball into a goal like it was nothing. Kit and Takua decided to watch him practice for a little while. "Kind of reminds me of hockey," Kit commented, noting the kohlii stick Hewkii was using.

"Hockey?"

"It's a game from my world. You use a flat stick to guide a little flat disc-thing called a puck around the court, and you move around the court on either ice-skates or rollerblades depending on whether you're playing on the ice or the ground."

"Why would you want to wear blades on your feet?"

"No, no, no, not that kind of blade" she laughed, "Think of them like shoes with wheels on them."

"Wheels?"

With a smile, Kit rolled her eyes; this was just one of those times that Takua was just full of questions relating to the wonders of her world.

"Think of them like discs that roll around on their sides."

The Ta-Matoran nodded in understanding, then explained the rules of kohlii to Kit. "Heads up!" Hewkii shouted, and they turned their attention just in time to see the ball heading for them. Having little time to think of anything else, Kit got on her feet in a flash and kicked the ball into a goal in the field down below. Takua and Hewkii looked at her, stunned. "Where did you learn that?" Hewkii took the question right out of Takua's mouth.

"Soccer."

"Soccer?" asked Takua, puzzled.

"It's a sport from my world that I used to play."

"And from what I just saw, you're quite an athlete," a booming voice spoke from behind them.

Whirling around, Kit and Takua came face to face with Pohatu, the Toa of Stone. "Sorry if I startled you and that I missed you two last night."

"No problem, Toa Pohatu," Takua greeted.

"That was an impressive kick, Kit," the Toa commented.

"Thanks; I guess I really do still have it."

As Takua and Pohatu walked off, Hewkii, who had joined them a minute before, tapped on Kit's arm.

"Hey, Kit, you interested in learning how to play kohlii?"

"You bet."

"Then I'll tell you what—you teach me a thing or two about these games you call soccer and hockey and I'll teach you a thing or two about kohlii."

"Deal," and Kit extended her hand to shake Hewkii's, an agreement gesture that she ended up having to explain to the kohlii player.

For the rest of the cool morning hours, Kit did her best to explain what she knew of the games of soccer and hockey to the village's star kohlii player. Afterwards, they decided to ask around for Matoran to play a round with them the next morning. While she was looking for Takua, Pohatu asked her if she'd like to go climbing on a small mountain later in the day, and she agreed. Finally, she found the Ta-Matoran Chronicler, who, after Kit did some coaxing, relented to play a friendly little round of the popular sport.

"Just to let you know—I'm not that good."

"That's ok; this is just to help me understand the game better."

Later, after doing some solo exploring around the village and visiting with Onewa, Kit ran to the front gate where Pohatu was waiting for her. From there, she hopped onto his back and, using his mask power, they dashed toward the mountain Pohatu had in mind. Even though she was expecting this, it still felt weird to her that in less than a minute they covered a distance that would've normally taken about three hours. "So, what do you think?" asked Pohatu. She glanced up to the peak of the mountain. It was tall, but not as tall as the other mountains she saw that were scattered all over the desert.

Turning to the Toa of Stone, she asked, "Where do we start?"

"Right there," he pointed to the wall straight ahead of them.

"Don't I need some climbing equipment or something?"

"Not unless you want it, but it's not absolutely necessary."

Pohatu walked up to the wall with Kit behind him. Now that she had a closer look at the rock face, she saw that it was littered with cracks and ridges that she could easily use as hand and footholds. Still, the idea of free-climbing scared her. What if she slipped and fell? What if something else went wrong? She suddenly became aware of Pohatu's voice.

"Sorry, what did you say?"

"I was asking if you want to go back to the village."

'He must've have noticed that I was nervous,' she said to herself. She willed herself to calm down. There really wasn't any reason to be scared; if anything did happen, Pohatu would take care of her. In fact, the only way this climbing gig was going to work was for she to trust him as much as he trusted her.

"We don't need to turn back; I'm ready."

"Alright then, let's get started," the Toa smiled brightly and he lifted her up to help her onto the rock face.

She made sure the hand and footholds would support her weight, and she began climbing. Shortly after, she heard the clang of metal digging into rock—Pohatu was using his climbing claws and was right behind her. Slowly, but surely, Kit made her way up the wall while Pohatu patiently kept pace with her. Thankfully, it was that time in the day when it started to cool down, so she didn't have to worry overheating. When they were halfway up, Kit couldn't reach a handhold and couldn't find any other ridges or cracks to grab or step on to get to it. Pohatu noticed.

"Need a boost to reach that?"

"Please?"

The Stone Toa put out his hand, Kit placed her foot in the center of his palm, he lifted her up, and she grabbed the handhold. Pohatu kept hold of Kit's foot until she managed to locate some footholds and they continued up the mountain. The sun was very close to the horizon when they reached the top. Fingers and feet aching, her arms and legs feeling like lead, Kit hauled herself over the flat surface. Pohatu's claws showed up right after her and she grabbed hold of the Toa's hand to help him up.

"Thank you."

"Well, now we're even."

Their climb to the top behind them, they took a break to look in the direction of the sunset. The sky was a bright orange which seemed to reflect onto the desert sand, with ribbons of gold as far as the eye could see. A short way into the distance, the shadow of Po-Koro could be seen. "This is so cool," Kit commented.

"Are you cold?"

"Huh? Oh no, it's just an expression."

Pohatu nodded. "Well, it's going to be dark soon. What do you say we head back to the village before Onewa starts to worry?" As much as she wanted to stay a little longer, Kit had to agree; it was time to head back. Still tired from her climb up, Pohatu let her hold onto his back as they descended. Once they got back to the village, she retreated to her hut and did a few stretches with the hope that it would prevent her from feeling too sore the next day.

The next morning, Kit found her way to the kohlii field. Hewkii was already there working with a ball.

"Good morning, Hewkii."

"Good morning, Kit. Ready to play some kohlii?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"So, how was your climb with Toa Pohatu yesterday?"

"It was great! I just hope I'm going to have the chance to come back and spend the night on that mountain."

Hewkii smiled and kicked the ball into one of the goals. "So, who did you get to be your teammate today?" asked Kit.

"Hafu should be here in any minute," Hewkii replied. "In fact, here he comes now and it looks like Takua's with him, too." Sure enough, Hafu and Takua were approaching the southern end of the field. With everyone present, Hafu, Takua, and Kit grabbed some kohlii sticks and guard shields and met with Hewkii on the field. While Hafu and Hewkii got in position on their side of the field, Kit and Takua agreed to take turns on defense and offense. Takua went to meet Hewkii at the center of the field and Kit took her position in the goal. The two Matoran touched sticks, the ball was released, and the game was on.

It took a few tries, but once she got a feel for the game and started keeping her eyes on the ball, Hewkii could barely get another score past Kit. As she watched the Matoran do their stuff, she thought to herself that Hewkii and the other Po-Matoran kohlii players would give Earth's best hockey and soccer players a run for their money. They played like this for about half an hour, then she and Takua switched places. Kit proved to be just as formidable of a player on the field as she was in the goal; it was taking all of Hewkii's skill to try to keep the ball away from her long enough to try to make a goal. At one point in the game, Hewkii was dribbling the ball towards Takua when Kit surprised him by stealing it and he ended up having to chase her to get it back. Hafu tensed, ready to block Kit's attempt. When she was close enough, Kit stopped the ball, positioned it quickly, and struck it with a golf swing of her stick. As the ball flew, Hafu leaped to block it—and missed by a centimeter. It ricocheted within the tubular walls of the goal. Kit and Takua lifted their sticks into the air as they cheered; the game was over and the score had just tied. Both teams touched sticks and congratulated each other on a good game when they heard clapping. It was Turaga Onewa and Toa Pohatu. "Turaga, what are you doing here?" asked Hewkii.

"I never miss a good game of kohlii, if I can help it," the Turaga simply replied.

As she put her stick away, Hewkii admitted to Kit that he was impressed with her; he hadn't had a good challenge like that in a long time. She slightly blushed.

Later that day and the next morning, Kit, Takua, Hewkii, and Hafu continued their little game of kohlii, each time picking up the score where they left it. That afternoon, Kit found herself thinking about her last stop on the island—Ta-Koro, the Village of Fire. 'But then, where do I go from there?' she asked herself. Were the Turaga going to arrange some place on the island for her to stay, or would they find a way to get her back home? As night fell, the Po-Matoran gathered around a campfire at the center of the village. Kit, wondering what was going on, decided to join them. Shortly after, Onewa appeared in front of a statue and raised his hand in the air for silence. Once the crowd had quieted down, he began to share a story about one of the many adventures of the Toa. The crowd, especially Kit, listened with intent and wonder. When Onewa was done storytelling, everyone headed to their huts to call it a night.

* * *

Next time--

The clouds were now as black as night and had a very threatening feel to them. 'I've got a very, very bad feeling about this,' she thought, then a shriek was heard near the gate. She heard another shriek up above and looked just in time to spot a large winged form camouflaged against the black clouds.


	7. The Village of Fire

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

About four days had passed since Kit and Takua left their friends at Po-Koro. Now, they were walking on a bridge that crossed over a river of lava in the Ta-Wahi region. Kit tried to ration their water supply as much as she could, but this volcanic wasteland was even hotter than the desert and she just had to have another drink from one of the canteens. "You ok?" asked Takua.

"I think so, yeah."

"First it was bitter cold; now it's searing heat?"

"Unfortunately, I'm not used to such extreme temperatures, but as long as I keep myself hydrated I'll be fine."

Suddenly, Pewku perked up, as if she was on the alert for something. Takua noticed, "What is it, Pewku?" and the crab took off. Calling to her, Kit and Takua chased after her and found her standing on edge of a cliff, wagging her tail. Soon, they saw what got Pewku so excited as the village of Ta-Koro laid right before them. Nodding, Takua hopped onto Pewku and they continued on.

Up on the walkway on top of the gate, a Ta-Matoran guard was marching back and forth until he noticed two figures approaching. Takua waved to him. He nodded, pushed a lever, and the bridge of rock pillars popped out of the lava. Inside, Matoran were either walking home from work or chatting with friends. A few stopped to see that Takua brought back a visitor. "Takua!" a voice called. It was Jaller, being followed by Turaga Vakama. "So, had fun having an excuse to go wandering around the island, again?" the Captain of the Guard asked as he clanked fists with his friend.

"You know me too well, Jaller," Takua laughed.

Vakama approached him, "Welcome home, Chronicler," then he turned to Kit. "And welcome to Ta-Koro, Kit."

"Thank you, Turaga," Kit bowed.

"Turaga Vakama," a voice called, "I received word that you required my presence."

It was Toa Tahu.

"Toa Tahu, I'd like to meet Kit. She's going to be our guest for the next few days."

Tahu locked his gaze on Kit, as if trying to determine if she posed any kind of threat. "So, you're the creature that Vakama identified as a human?"

"Um . . . yeah," Kit replied a bit nervously.

"Jaller, Tahu, you're dismissed," said Vakama.

"Yes, Turaga," Jaller saluted, "I'll see you later, Takua, Kit."

Vakama turned to Takua.

"Takua, could you be so kind to show Kit where she may sleep?"

"Sure thing, Turaga."

While Takua lead her away, Kit stole a glance over her shoulder. The Toa of Ta-Koro's eyes seemed to burn as if they were live flames. Quickly, she turned her attention back to Takua. Tahu remained where he stood, eyes focused on the young human.

"Is something troubling you, Toa Tahu?" asked Vakama.

"Not that I don't trust your judgment, or that of the other Turaga, Vakama, but are you sure it's a good idea to let that human into our midst?"

"Why not?"

"We don't know the first about her, what she's capable of. For all we know, this could be some kind of trap, either of hers or Makuta's doing."

"I understand your caution Tahu, but I assure you, Kit is an ally."

With a resigned sigh, he left for the lava streams to get back to his surfing.

The next day, Jaller and Takua showed Kit around the village. Even though it wasn't finished yet, she still thought the new kohlii field was impressive, where Jaller mentioned the Turaga's hope to get a friendly first-ever island wide kohlii tournament started.

"Who will be on Ta-Koro's team?"

"Who do you think?"

Jaller placed an arm across Takua's shoulders, who smiled nervously. Later, they were walking by a lava river when they spotted Tahu surfing downriver on his lavaboard. The Toa of Fire executed a perfect flip over a rock and landed in front of them. "Takua. Jaller," he greeted at the Matoran, then turned his attention onto Kit, "You ever lavasurfed before, kid?"

"No; in my world, we don't have anything that we can really use to surf on lava, plus it's considered way too dangerous."

"Why?"

"Let me just say that we humans can't withstand intense heat like you can."

Tahu nodded, "Takua mentioned your specie's limitation with climates of extreme temperatures."

The Toa bid them farewell and continued with his surfing. It was then that Kit understood the reason behind his attitude. He was suspicious of her and wasn't sure if she could be trusted. After that, the trio finally reached their last stop—the Wall of History. Kit found it to be as fascinating as the Wall of Prophecy back at Ko-Koro. "Sorry Kit, but we need to get back to work," Jaller apologized, and he grabbed Takua's arm. "By 'we', I mean you too, Takua; you've had your fun." The Chronicler groaned as his best friend dragged him away, leaving a sympathetically grinning Kit behind; she knew exactly how her little friend felt.

It was nearly nightfall when Vakama decided to pay the Wall a visit. However, he wasn't expecting to have company. Kit was at the halfway point, her eyes darting side-to-side as she read the carved letters.

"I see you find the Wall interesting, my friend."

"I like history."

Vakama chuckled.

"Then you and Whenua must get along just fine. So, did you enjoy your tour of our village?"

"Very; I've got to remember to thank Takua and Jaller. They were in such a hurry to get back to their duties that I didn't have a chance."

The Turaga of Fire gave the girl a skeptical look.

"Well, Jaller was in a hurry, anyway. Takua just got dragged along for the ride."

As Kit got back to her reading, Vakama observed.

"If I may ask, how did you come to learn to read our written language?"

"Nuju taught me while I was in Ko-Koro."

"Really?"

"Yeah; he and Matoro caught me admiring the Wall of Prophecy on the first night and he offered to teach me."

Vakama nodded, "Your interest to learn our circle writing must have struck his fancy somehow; Nuju normally doesn't do those sort of things."

Though her eyes were focused on the wall, Vakama recognized the look on her face—the look of other thoughts going through the person's head.

"There's something else on your mind, isn't there?"

"I've noticed that Tahu seemed wary of me today."

Vakama placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Just give him some time; he'll learn."

Kit nodded.

"You know, Kit, we're going to have to figure out where exactly on the island you're going stay, at least until we find a way get you back to your world."

"Can I make a suggestion?"

"I don't see why not."

"If it's not too much trouble, I think I'd like to stay at Ga-Koro."

"Any particular reason why?"

"I don't really know, actually. All of the villages were great, but Ga-Koro seems to be the one where I feel . . . I don't know, the most at home, I guess."

Vakama chuckled, "I'll talk to Nokama about it."

Kit nodded and let out a quiet yawn that did not go unnoticed. "You're tired, you should be heading for bed," said Vakama.

"Aw, do I have to?"

"Yes, you have to."

Bidding goodnight to the Turaga, Kit left for her hut; she would have to finish reading the Wall tomorrow.

As soon as she woke up the next morning, Kit headed back to the Wall. After locating where she left off, she continued her reading. She was just about done reading the last chapter when she heard barking—it was Pewku. The mechanical crustacean trotted up to Kit and nuzzled her legs as she tried to reach up to her face, wanting to lick it. "Hey, Pewku," Kit greeted as she patted the Rahi's shell, "What are you doing here?" Soon after, she discovered that Takua was at work and Pewku wanted company, but there was no one to hang out with—until she found Kit. And so, for about half of the day, Kit and Pewku either walked around the village or lounged at her hut. The crab Rahi seemed to be just content to be with a friend. Suddenly, Pewku, who was snuggled up and napping next to Kit, perked up her eye stalks and darted them all around the hut. Kit immediately noticed; Pewku looked like she was sensing something, "What is it, girl?" Pewku whined as she got up and looked out the window. Following her, Kit also took a peek outside. Though she didn't see anything out of the ordinary, she did hear some thunder and noticed some dark grey clouds that were beginning to block out the sunlight. Pewku squealed, hid underneath the cot, and switched to her enclosed defense mode. Kit could tell that something was seriously scaring the crab. Kneeling down, she looked underneath the cot, "Pewku, what's wrong?" She got her answer within the next moment when even more of the light in the hut disappeared. 'This cannot be good,' she said to herself, then turned back to Pewku. "Pewku, you probably don't need me to tell you this, but stay here, ok? I'm going outside to see what's going on." Pewku whined, as if telling the girl that she didn't want to her leave, let alone go outside. "Don't worry," Kit reached under and patted Pewku's eye stalks in an effort to comfort the frightened crab, "I won't go far, just outside the door. You just stay put, alright?" Since Pewku's head was tucked into her shell, all she could give Kit was a wink, and the young human walked out the door. What was a light grey shade just a moment before was now almost pitch black. Matoran everywhere had stopped where they were or what they were doing and were looking up at the sky while some pointed. Kit followed their gaze and a disturbing sight met her eyes. The clouds were now as black as night and had a very threatening feel to them. 'I've got a very, very bad feeling about this,' she thought, then a shriek was heard near the gate. She heard another shriek up above and looked just in time to spot a large winged form camouflaged against the black clouds. "What was that thing?" she asked a Matoran next to her.

"I don't know," answered the Matoran, "but I'll tell you one thing—it's definitely no Gukko or Kahu." Then a horn-like call trumpeted throughout the village—the Ta-Koro Guard was sounding the alarm. Off to her right, Kit could just barely make out the forms of Vakama and Tahu and she ran toward them.

"Turaga," she called, "What's going on?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Tahu replied as he watched the sky.

Vakama was about to say something when something strange happened. Before his, Tahu's, and Kit's eyes the clouds started to dissipate, revealing a blue sky hazed from the steam of the lava below. The three looked to one another, stunned; everything seemed to return to normal as if it never happened. Takua trotted up to Vakama's side.

"What was that all about, Turaga?"

"I'm not sure, Takua."

"All Ta-Matoran unharmed and accounted for, Turaga. Everyone reports there was no damage to the village," Jaller saluted.

"That's good to hear, Captain."

"Hey, has anybody seen Pewku?" asked Takua.

'Oh no,' Kit thought fearfully, she had left Pewku underneath her cot in her hut.

Suddenly, the Chronicler's pet Rahi appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground, licking his mask. While Takua struggled to get Pewku off of him, the crowd laughed at the sight.

The next day everyone was going about their daily business while Kit and Takua were hanging out at the Chronicler's hut. It was during this that Takua remembered something.

"Kit, I almost forgot. Turaga Vakama wanted me to let you know that he contacted Turaga Nokama about you wishing to stay at Ga-Koro."

"And?"

"It's all set; Toa Gali can come pick you up and take you back to the village."

"That's great!"

"Just do me a favor and either keep in touch or come visit every once in a while?"

"I will if you will."

The next day, Kit, Takua, and Jaller hung out and chatted about all kinds of things. The two Matoran even invited Kit to join them lava surfing, but she politely declined, claiming she would be content to just watch. Later, in as open of an area as they could find and after getting a few more players, they played a friendly round of kohlii. Next morning, Kit was up bright and early and watched Ta-Matoran go about their daily business. Although she was anxious to get back to Ga-Koro, she was a bit sad to leave Takua, who had been her guide for the past few weeks. Around late morning, Kit got word that Gali was approaching, and she said goodbye to Jaller and Vakama and thanked them for their hospitality. Tahu, however, was nowhere to be seen.

"Could you tell Tahu I said bye, Vakama?"

"Of course, Kit."

Just when she got done saying goodbye to Takua, Pewku, who was right next to him, whined and jumped onto her, causing her to fall to her knees and the crab licked her face. "Yeah, yeah, I know—I'll miss you too, girl," Kit giggled as she gently pushed Pewku off of her lap and patted her shell.

Just as Kit got back on her feet, Gali came, "Are you ready to go, Kit?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

With a final wave to Takua, Jaller, and Vakama, she followed Gali across the bridge, to the closest river, hopped onto the female Toa's back, and held on as they dove into the water and swam for Ga-Koro.

* * *

Next time--

Some parts of the clouds seemed to randomly bulge out and change shape, almost like the entire storm was alive. With the noise, the sights, and the mystery behind this storm and the way it was 'behaving', it was just pure chaos. Kit soon became aware that her grip was loosening.

"Lewa--" she called out, but was cut off when she fell off as he tilted, her grip around the Toa's neck lost.


	8. Lost

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

Several weeks passed, and Kit kept herself busy with swimming, visiting the surrounding beaches, exploring the many cliffs near the village, and sending letters to Takua whenever she could. One day, though, Lewa stopped by, claiming he was in the area and decided to visit for a bit. He invited Kit on a ride over the northern end of the island for a little while and, with Turaga Nokama's approval, they took off into the sky. They flew over the Po-Wahi desert and, on their way back, they flew over Ko-Wahi. All the while, Kit marveled at the fantastic view of the Tiro Canyon and Mt. Ihu. The wind picked up suddenly, nearly throwing Lewa off balance. Hearing thunder behind them, Kit looked to find dark clouds heading right for them.

"Looks like Le-Wahi's in for a bit of a storm."

Lewa also glanced behind him.

"I've got a scarybad feeling that that's no ordinarynormal storm, Kit."

Looking back, Kit saw that Lewa was right. The clouds were not only moving far too fast for clouds, they were moving against the wind. Try as he might, Lewa couldn't stay ahead of the cloud mass and his power over wind didn't seem to have any effect. They were swallowed up in the darkness within minutes. Kit nearly got tossed off when a powerful gust threw Lewa sideways. "Griptight, Kit," Lewa yelled over the howling wind, "This is going to be hardrough." Kit wrapped her arms tighter around the Toa's neck, holding on for dear life. As Lewa tried to navigate his way through the strange storm, the powerful wind tossed and turned them all over the place. In fact, it felt like the harder they tried to fly, the more they got bashed around. Some parts of the clouds seemed to randomly bulge out and change shape, almost like the entire storm was alive. With the noise, the sights, and the mystery behind this storm and the way it was 'behaving', it was just pure chaos. Kit soon became aware that her grip was loosening.

"Lewa--" she called out, but was cut off when she fell off as he tilted, her grip around the Toa's neck lost.

"Kit!" Lewa cried out, horrified, the hurricane winds keeping him from diving to save her.

He could do nothing more than watch her form disappear into the clouds and listen to her scream until he couldn't see nor hear her anymore. Meanwhile, the wind whistled in her ears as Kit plunged to what she was certain would be instant death. Her mind could think of little else than the memories of her home and of her new friends on Mata Nui. Then, just like that, her world went black.

The first thing she felt was the cold. Kit slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she began to sit up. When her vision cleared, all she saw around her was white. "Where am I? What happened?" she said, then, it all came back to her: her arrival on Mata Nui, the storm, her fall. All around were hills, mounds, and mountains of snow. "I must be somewhere in Ko-Wahi," she realized, remembering that the ice region was what she and Lewa were flying over when the freak storm showed up. Looking up, she saw no sign that the storm was even there; just clear blue skies with faint white wisps of cloud. She jumped to her feet, only to feel a sharp pain in her right side. Groaning, she clutched her side and dropped down to one knee. Gritting her teeth, she slowly got up and called up at the sky, "Lewa! Lewa, where are you? Lewa!" Her eyes scanned the sky above, but there was no sign of the Toa. To her left, she spotted a little cave of some sort. Dusting off the snow that clung to her clothes, she walked towards it, the snow softly crunching under her feet. When she made it to the mouth, a thought came to her: What if this cave was some kind of Rahi's home? Finding a rock, she picked it up, threw it inside, and quickly flattened herself against the mound. Not a single sound, aside from the rock's soft thunk as it landed in the snow, was heard. Breathing a sigh of relief, she relaxed. "Lewa," she called again, but her only answer was the echo of her own voice. It was then that Kit noticed the sun was rather low on the horizon and she figured it was going to be dark soon. She didn't want to wander anywhere farther than a few feet away from the cave, but she knew that there was no way she was going to survive the night without a source of heat. And so, reluctantly, she went searching for something she could use to make a camp fire, mindful to keep the cave within her sights. She searched as far as she dared, and, just when she was about to give up, she spotted an orange glow behind some rocks and investigated. It was a heat stone.

That night, she sat in her cave, staying warm by the heat stone, thinking—thinking of what happened that caused her to be transported here to Mata Nui, how she was going to find Lewa or anybody in this place, and where she was going to go from here. Thinking of Lewa somehow made her remember Kongu and what he said about the flute he gave her. _"We trainteach our bird's to respondanswer to a certain tunemelody that you blowplay on this flute._ _Wherever you are, a Gukko bird will come to your side." _

"That's it," she said with a triumphant smile, and she reached into her back pocket.

If she could use the flute to call a Gukko to her, she could ride the bird back to Ga-Koro. However, that hope was quickly dashed when she discovered the pocket to be empty. She frantically searched her pockets and wherever else she could've misplaced it, but the flute was nowhere to be found. With a sickening feeling in her stomach, she realized she must've somehow lost it during the fall. Crestfallen and exhausted, she went to sleep.

A day and a half had passed since Kit found herself by the little cave, and she was trying to think of what her next course of action should be. She knew she couldn't stay where she was much longer for the heat stone was starting to run out of juice and she hadn't had a bite to eat since she left Ga-Koro. She knew the Ko-Matoran had some stuff they used for sustenance in this environment, but she didn't know where to find or look for it. Hydration wasn't really a problem since she could heat up the snow until it melted. "If the weather permits, I'll go see if I can find anything tomorrow," she said, "And, whether I do or not, I'm going to have to find another place to crash; I'm not going to last much longer if I stay here with no materials or food." With that settled, she laid down for the night.

The next morning, Kit awoke to a sunny and cloudless day. Stepping out of the cave, she stretched, her side still pretty sore, and, with one more look at the cave, she set out. An hour that felt like an eternity passed and Kit still trudged in the snow, hoping that she would be able to find shelter from the cold. She looked at the sky and called to the missing Toa of Air, hoping that she would eventually get lucky. So far, no such luck presented itself. Pretty soon, she was hugging herself as tightly as she could. "Man, what I wouldn't give for a winter coat right now." Suddenly, she heard a growl and she immediately froze in her tracks. At first she thought it was some kind of animal, but then she realized that the growling came from her. "And a good hot meal," she added with a bit of an embarrassed smile. Later in the day, she found a niche in what appeared to be a glacier and decided it was better than nothing. Squeezing in, she sat down and made a little fire out of the little branches she gathered. Hungry and exhausted, she went to sleep.

The next day, she once again ventured out into the snow. After looking up at an empty sky for what must've been the ten-hundredth time, she realized she had to face the possibility that she was never going to find Lewa, or vice versa. "If I'm going to find anyone or anything," she mumbled to herself, "I'm going to have to keep moving." She looked at her fingers; the night before, she thought they were starting to look a little blue, now they looked fine. She was going to have to find a way either out of this tundra climate, to Ko-Koro, or, at least, something that would keep her warm, and soon. It was almost dark when she heard a growl. She groaned, thinking it was her stomach again, but when she heard it a second time, she didn't feel the rumbling in her abdomen. Those growls weren't coming from her, they were coming from somewhere else, and she froze. Staying perfectly still, she could feel her heart beginning to race as she scanned the surrounding area. Then, she saw them—a pair of glowing dark yellow eyes. She couldn't really see what it was the eyes belonged to, but she had a nagging suspicion and it wasn't any good news for her.

Adrenaline starting to kick in, she found herself running as fast as she could move. Behind her, she heard the beast charging after her and could feel its warm breath. She looked over her shoulder for just a second and, when she looked back, she saw she was heading for the edge of a slope. She slammed on the brakes and whirled her arms in the air, straining to regain her balance. More growling was heard from behind her and she turned around to face the dark yellow eyes. She could now clearly see the figure of a Muaka—the tiger-like Rahi of Mata Nui. She caught a glimmer in its eyes that sent a chill of fear gushing up her spine; it knew it had its prey cornered. For a moment, there was absolute silence. Then, the sound of a large metallic spring being squeezed was heard and Kit swore she jumped out of her skin. She was now breathing so hard, her chest was rising with each hurried breath and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. With horror, she knew exactly what was happening—the large metallic cat was compressing its extendable neck mechanism to prepare for an attack. Suddenly, without warning, it let out a thunderous roar, and, this time, she screamed. As her life started flashing before her eyes, she became aware that the ground underneath her was shaking. She looked down at her feet just as the snow started to fall down the steep slope. Apparently, the Muaka's roar had caused an avalanche, and she was standing right on top of it. With a shout, she fell and was engulfed by the snow within minutes. The Rahi blinked its eyes in surprise and rushed to the edge. As soon as the snow settled it peered down, but saw nothing. With a frustrated rumble, it loped off to find other prey.

Kit stirred and groaned as she began to get up. At first, she wasn't sure where she was, then remembered the chase and the Muaka from the night before. She looked behind her and saw a wall of snow. Somehow, she survived the avalanche and, instead of getting buried, she ended up in another cave. 'Great', she sarcastically said to herself, 'If it's not being buried in snow, it's being trapped in a cave.' She thought about trying to dig herself out, but she had no idea how deep the snow was and there was a chance that she would freeze or exhaust herself before she even got halfway through. She looked down the cave and, for reasons unknown to her, she started walking further inside. She expected to come to a dead end within a few yards, but the cave just kept going. "This is no cave; it's a tunnel," she mused, which was followed by a silent hope that this tunnel wouldn't be one with no exit. Finally, her prayer was answered when she found her way out. Outside, the snow was brightly lit with sunlight, a sign that the sun was beginning to rise. However, Kit's body was aching like crazy and the long walk just made her more tired, so she decided it was probably best to get some rest. She quickly grabbed a bush to hide the doorway, in case the Muaka or something else came by, then lied down to sleep.

When she woke up, Kit's body still ached a little due to the bruises and sore muscles and her side still hurt, but she felt very refreshed and was ready to continue. Again she plodded along in the snow, keeping her eyes open for any signs of any friendly kind of life. Then, around the middle of the day, she heard a low rumbling that seemed to come from the sky. She looked up and saw that the clouds were getting darker and darker. But that wasn't all; she suddenly became aware of the breeze that was starting to pick up speed. "This is bad," she said, getting a very good idea of what was about to come down. She cupped her hands and prepared to blow on them when she noticed her fingers were tinted with blue, and the blue was spreading. If she was going to find shelter, it would have to be now. She balled her hands into fists, shoved them into her pockets, and continued on. Ten minutes passed by and Kit still trudged on in the snow, only she was getting very tired and it showed. The blanket of snow being blown in the blizzard was so thick she could barely see a few feet ahead of her. The ice cold wind chilled her to the bone and each step was harder than the last. The snow was getting so high and her legs felt so heavy that she had stumbled and tripped three times and her fingers and feet were beginning to feel numb. She could feel her eyelids starting to droop—she was starting to fall asleep. Try as she might, she was losing the battle to stay conscious. For a minute, she thought she heard a familiar growl, but before she could determine what it was, she felt herself falling and rolling in the snow as she tumbled down a high mound. She lay where she fell, too tired to move, when she heard the sounds of compacted snow being struck, a roar, and feet crunching on the snow. Somehow, she found the strength to lift her head. Her vision was blurred, but she could just make out the shape of a tall white form. Then, she dropped her head and gave into unconsciousness.

* * *

Next time--

A disc thrown by Jaller struck the Rahi just the second before its stinger discharged, causing its aim to falter. When Kit heard the stinger approaching, it was too late. Thankfully, it didn't hit the Onu-Matoran, but she found herself flying through the air again when it hit the ledge where she was standing just moments before. Everyone, the Toa included, stared in horror; she would never survive a fall from that high or with that much force.


	9. Power of the Crystal

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

She woke up to find herself lying on a cot in a dark room made of ice that was lit by the glow of a heat stone. She felt a little warmer than she had felt in days. Feeling something stiff on her side, she lifted her shirt to discover her lower torso wrapped in soft bandages. Her side was still a bit sore, but felt much better. She then became aware of quiet, whispering voices in the alley outside and saw the shadows of Turaga Nuju and Kopaka cast on the hut next door. 'I must be in Ko-Koro,' she realized with relief. She was safe. Carefully, so as not to aggravate her side, she sat up sideways on the cot. It was just then that Matoro happened to peek through the door.

"Turaga, she's awake."

Nuju and Kopaka joined the Ko-Matoran inside the hut. The Turaga walked to a small table, poured some steaming liquid into a cup, and handed it to Kit with some clicks and whistles. Matoro translated, "The Turaga says to drink this, it will make you feel better." Kit accepted the cup and carefully took a sip. Almost immediately, she felt much better; the warmth of the drink seemed to spread all over her body and the heat from the cup felt nice to the touch. Plus, the drink didn't taste too bad either. It seemed to have a bit of a vanilla flavor.

"Thank you," she said to Nuju.

The Turaga nodded and she took another sip. "How are you feeling?" asked Kopaka.

"Better, still a little sore in the side."

"And no wonder," said Matoro, "Turaga Nuju mentioned that you had a bruised rib when he examined you."

"By the way, how did I get here to Ko-Koro?"

"Would you believe you practically dropped at our doorstep?" asked Kopaka.

Kit gave him an odd look.

"I was just returning from scouting for you when I thought I heard something. I spotted both you tumbling down a slope nearby and a Muaka leering at you from the ledge. I managed to scare it off and carried you into the village."

"How did you know to look for me?"

"We received word that you were missing from Toa Lewa," informed Matoro. "He told us of what happened in the storm and asked us to keep an eye out for you. After Turaga Nuju assured him we would, he left in the direction of Ga-Koro to notify Turaga Nokama of what happened."

"Do they—Ga-Koro and Lewa—know that I'm ok?"

Nuju whistled and Matoro translated, "The Turaga says that he sent a messenger as soon as he saw Toa Kopaka carrying you into the village." Kit finished her drink and handed the cup to Nuju, who gently ushered her to lay down on her back as he clicked and gestured. Matoro translated, "The Turaga says you must rest now," and the trio left. While he walked to his hut, Kopaka thought about the Muaka that pursued Kit earlier that day. For some reason, he couldn't shake off the feeling that that Muaka was no ordinary Muaka; that there was something very odd about it that didn't sit well with him. He recalled that, for a brief moment, he saw what he thought was pure evil in the creature's eyes. Unbeknownst to him, the same thoughts were going through Kit's mind as well.

Over the next few days, Kit remained in Ko-Koro, resting and getting her strength back. Slowly, but surely, Kit could feel her side getting better. Finally, on the fourth day, Nuju gave her permission to be out of bed as long as she didn't overexert herself and stayed in the confines of the koro. Therefore, she was allowed to walk around the village, at least. Hearing someone call to her, she found Kopeke running toward her. "Hey, Kopeke. What's up?" The Ko-Matoran reached into his pack and pulled out something.

"This yours?" he asked as he held out a flute—Kit's flute.

Kit's face lit up as she received the instrument from Kopeke's hand.

"Where did you find it?"

"By a crevasse where my team and I were working a few suns past."

"How did you know it was mine?"

"Didn't, but I remembered you had one that you were missing and thought I'd ask."

"Well, I really appreciate this, Kopeke. Thanks."

"You're welcome."

The Matoran bowed and went on his way while Kit stuffed the flute back into her pocket. Two days later, Nuju gave Kit a clean bill of health. Her side had completely healed and she was back to full strength. When the Turaga continued conversing in clicks and whistles, she turned to Matoro.

"The Turaga asks if you don't mind staying in Ko-Koro for a few more days."

"What happens in a few more days?"

"There's going to be an island wide gathering at the Kini Nui. After we're done there, you could rejoin Turaga Nokama and the Ga-Matoran when they travel back to the ocean."

"Sure, I don't mind."

Nuju nodded and Kit walked outside. She was near the center of the village when a snowball splattered against her face. She found the top of what appeared to be the backside of a grey Matatu nearly hidden behind a mound of snow. "Oh, a wise guy, eh?" she grinned evilly as she formed some snow into a ball. Quietly, she positioned herself behind another mound. Kopeke, meanwhile, peeked over his shelter only to find the field empty. Bewildered, he scratched his head. Where did Kit go? Suddenly, he was taken totally by surprise by a snowball hitting him square in the mask, knocking him to the ground. It was then he heard a familiar laugh. Brushing the snow off his mask and getting on his feet, he looked over his mound to find Kit holding another snowball, all set and ready to go, in her right hand. The human girl could see as clear as day in his eyes that the Ko-Matoran was smiling, and they got a game of Huai Snowball Sling going.

The few days came and went, and the village of Ko-Koro was marching toward the Kini Nui, located near the center of the island. By early evening of the third day, they arrived and made camp. Whenua, Onua, and the Onu-Matoran arrived shortly after and were welcomed. Vakama, Tahu, and their villagers arrived around late afternoon the next day. While Nuju, Whenua, Onua, and Kopaka greeted their fire counterparts, Kit located and chatted with her Matoran friends. Soon after, the remaining Turaga, Toa, and their villagers arrived and, for the next two hours, everyone just mingled and engaged in friendly conversation. While this was happening, Kit excused herself from the Matoran and went to socialize with the Toa a bit. "It's good to see you're doing well, Kit," Onua greeted as he patted the girl's head. "All of our Turaga told us of what happened over Ko-Wahi."

"Sorry about your farfall, Kit. I should've defendprotected you better," Lewa apologized.

Kit could tell from the sound of his voice that Lewa took her accident pretty hard. Nokama and Gali had entrusted her safety to him, and he felt like he not only let the Turaga and his sister down, but Kit as well. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry about it Lewa, it's ok. Besides, with a weird storm like that, you did everything you could."

"That's what Turaga Matau and we've been trying to tell him for the past two weeks," said Tahu.

"So, how do you like our island, Kit?" asked Pohatu.

"It's absolutely beautiful; I'm glad I somehow got the opportunity to come here."

"What's that?" Kopaka pointed to a light purple glow underneath Kit's shirt.

Kit pulled out the crystal, which turned out to be the source of the glow.

"What's happening?" asked Gali.

"I don't know," Kit responded, "it's never done this before."

Then, as quickly as it had started, the crystal stopped glowing. Kit just scratched her head in confusion when something else happened. Without warning, seven small beams of light shot out from the crystal, six at each of the Toa and one at Kit. The light beams connected to each person's chest and, amazingly, nothing happened. Each felt a slight tingle go through the length of their bodies, but, other than that, no pain whatsoever was felt. A moment later, the beams retracted and it was over. Everyone looked at the crystal, stunned.

Suddenly, Lewa's posture stiffened and he scanned the area; he thought he heard something. Gali noticed, "What is it, Lewa?" The green Toa put a finger to his lips, asking his fellow Toa to be silent. Then, they all heard it—a faint, but recognizable buzzing sound. Kit looked to Lewa, who nodded. Tahu was the first to spring to his feet and run toward where the Matoran and Turaga were. But, before he could call out a warning, a Rama rammed into him, sending him to the ground. Following it into the clearing were two more of its kind. Matoran screamed and gasped in terror while the Toa got ready for a fight. However, they soon discovered that the Rama weren't the only things they had to worry about. Two vicious looking Nui-Jaga and a Kane-Ra bull appeared out of the jungle. It was clear to Kit and the Toa that these beasts were primed, itching, and ready for a fight. Tahu started giving orders to his brothers and sister.

"Gali, Pohatu, you two and I will deal with the Jaga and Kane-Ra. Kopaka, Lewa, Onua, you take care of the Rama."

"What about me," Kit called for the red Toa's attention. "I know I probably won't be of much use in a big battle, but is there anything I can do to help?"

Tahu's answer came before you could blink. "You help the Turaga look after the Matoran," and everyone spread out.

As he and his brothers and sister fought the attacking Rahi, Kopaka noticed something odd about them, something that looked familiar. Then, it hit him—just like the Muaka, there was a gleam of pure evil in their eyes. He did not like the feeling this gave him at all. 'Something's either very wrong or not right about these Rahi.' Meanwhile, Kit tried to make her way to the statue that looked like a face, where the Turaga and Matoran were running toward, but, with having to dodge the Rama's stingers and the Nui-Jaga's blobs of poison, it wasn't easy. Ducking behind a rock to catch a momentary breather, she caught sight of the Kane-Ra a few feet behind Tahu, head down and one hoof stamping the ground. It was going to charge.

"Tahu, look out!" she called, but her warning came too late.

With a short, powerful spring, it butted into the Toa's back with such force, he was rendered unconscious before he even hit the ground. Tahu didn't even have a chance to activate his mask power. The Toa of Fire's form skidded and slid across the ground, heading right for the edge of a cliff. Just when half of his body was over the edge, Kit's hands grasped Tahu's wrist, halting the Toa's descent. However, with Tahu being so big and so much dead weight, she could barely hold on to him. He almost slipped through her hold when she grabbed him. Groaning through clenched teeth, Kit struggled with all of a strength born out of desperation to keep from slipping and hold onto Tahu, but if someone didn't help soon, he was going to take her with him. Hearing a deep mooing sound behind her, she looked to see the Kane-Ra stamping the ground, ready to finish the job it started. Just when it looked like it was all over, the Rahi suddenly became encased in a thick block of ice. With a smile, she followed the ice's path to Kopaka, its point of origin, who nodded. She nodded back, then heard Tahu beginning to wake up. Grasping the situation, he grabbed hold of Kit's wrist and she pulled while he pushed himself up. Once back on solid ground, Tahu looked straight at Kit with disbelief in his eyes. Screams of fear reached their ears. "The Matoran!" Tahu gasped.

"On it," Kit said as she broke off a long wooden pole and ran to defend them.

She got in front of them just as one of the Nui-Jaga appeared, gnashing its teeth. Memories of how she felt during her encounter with the Nui Rama flashed through her mind and she felt herself shaking as she stood ready, keeping herself between Vakama and the Matoran and the Rahi. Recalling her karate training, Kit got into position, holding the pole like a bo. The Rahi attacked first, shooting a splotch of poison from its tail. Kit dodged and heard the poison eat away at the ground like hot acid before she saw it. 'Gotta do something about that tail,' she said to herself, then she noticed one of the Matoran had a disc on his back. "Need to borrow this," and she grabbed the disc before the Matoran could protest and threw it like a Frisbee. She threw it so high, the giant robotic scorpion couldn't use its claws to block it. The disc met its target—the Rahi's tail. The disc cut and lodged itself into the root of the Nui-Jaga's tail and the robotic scorpion roared in pain. The insectoid Rahi glanced over its backside to inspect the damage. The disc did more than just wound the beast, it cut off the poison's access way. Now, there was no way the scorpion could use its poison without harming itself. If the Rahi had glanced at Kit again, there would've been fury in its eyes. However, it wasn't even given the chance. Seizing the Rahi's moment of distraction, Kit rushed in and flipped onto the scorpion's back. "Lights out, bug face," and she jammed the end of her pole into the base of the Rahi's neck, knocking it out cold.

Just as a victorious smile spread across her face, she heard someone call out, "Heeeelp!"

Just like she just did with the Nui-Jaga, one of the Rama seized its opportunity while she was sidetracked and plucked up an Onu-Matoran from the group. Leaping off the scorpion, Kit ran and jumped as high as she could, but the dragonfly Rahi was already too high.

The Rama was rising quickly with the struggling Onu-Matoran in its claws. Kit tried to think and fast; if she didn't do something, the little one would be as good as gone. 'If only I could fly,' she thought. Then an idea formed in her head. Taking out her flute, she called for a Gukko bird, which landed in front of her. She hopped on the bird's back, took to the sky, and rammed into the big bug. The impact made the Rama throw the Matoran into the air and Kit caught him on the Gukko. However, before she could direct the bird to land, another one of the Rama struck from the side. While the Gukko fell to the ground below, Kit and the Onu-Matoran were sent flying. However, it turned out that the Rama actually did them a favor; though their landing was hard, it was right on the statue. Urging the Matoran to move, he and Kit started climbing down, but the Rama had other plans. It aimed its stinger right at Kit and prepared to fire. A disc thrown by Jaller struck the Rahi just the second before its stinger discharged, causing its aim to falter. When Kit heard the stinger approaching, it was too late. Thankfully, it didn't hit the Onu-Matoran, but she found herself flying through the air again when it hit the ledge where she was standing just moments before. Everyone, the Toa included, stared in horror; she would never survive a fall from that high or with that much force. As she fell, the crystal around Kit's neck began to glow and the most amazing thing happened. Ribbons of yellow light wrapped around Kit's body: her legs, her arms, her torso, her head, just about everywhere. When they dissipated, armor replaced her clothes—armor that looked similar to the Toa's armor. Her shoes changed into metal blue boots and thick blue shin guards were attached to her lower legs, her thighs were covered with green armor, a brown cover protected her stomach, a red breastplate outlined in silver covered her chest, black armor gleamed on her arms and the tops of her hands, and last, but definitely not least, an angled metal headband with a scope over her right eye appeared on her head. Knee caps and shoulder guards made of solid protodermis completed the outfit. By now, Kit skidded on the ground, leaving a trench in her wake. Everyone held their breath, not sure what to expect. Then, groaning, Kit got onto her feet and stared at her gloved hand in wonder. It looked like a black skintight suit covered in metal body armor.

'What just happened?' she asked herself. Slowly getting up, she twisted and turned her body and flexed her joints; everything felt so comfortable, as if the suit was made specifically for her. A screech from the Nui Rama that tried to finish her off a moment before caught her attention. "Wanna go again?" she invited the bug, and the flying Rahi dove. She stood her ground, waiting for the bug to get closer when the scope reacted. On the screen, a red circle appeared on the Rama's left wing. When the Rama got close enough, she leaped as high as she could jump, twist-flipped, and landed onto the Rama's back. Balling her hand into a fist, she struck a mighty punch at the base of the Rahi's left wing—right where the scope's diagram had showed her. Its wing apparatus badly damaged, the Rama headed for a crash course toward the ground. "Happy landings," Kit said to the Rama, and jumped ship, landing lithely on the ground as the bug crashed. The Rama lay there, not moving, when it suddenly turned into a puff of smoke and vanished. "What the--?" asked Kit, bewildered.

"It's just as I thought," spoke Kopaka, who she found standing by her side, "These are not Rahi, they're shadows."

The battle continued on with the Toa fending off the remaining 'Shadow Rahi' and Kit defending the Turaga and Matoran from those who managed to get past them. At one point, without thinking about it, she reached a hand toward another one of the Rama, and a burst of yellow-colored energy shot out. The shot met its target, sending the flying Rahi to ground. She stared at her hand in disbelief, then repeated the technique on another one of the fake Rahi. Finally, Pohatu and Onua, with their combined powers, finished off the Nui Jaga, and it was over. "Everybody alright?" Gali asked the villagers.

"We're all safe and well, Toa Gali," Nokama replied, "Thanks to you, the Toa, and of course, Kit."

As the girl slightly blushed, in a quick flash of light, her suit of Toa armor was replaced with her normal clothes. She looked at her hands, puzzled. "What was that all about?" Everyone shrugged their shoulders. They were as clueless as she.

"Perhaps I can answer that, and more," a warped, but gentle feminine voice spoke.

* * *

Next time--

"It's just as I suspected, my Brother," he said to nothing in particular, except perhaps the face-like gate that was carved in the likeness of his brother, Mata Nui. "The human known as Kit has returned." With a deft swing that was the result of hatred and anger, he shattered a good sized piece of the wall of rock that made up his lair. He had felt the human girl's presence on the island since the first day she arrived and it irritated him; he hated humans and he hated this particular one with a vengeance.


	10. Tehreisha

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle, but I do own Tehreisha (well, sort of--she's based on a character from Power Rangers, but I made up the name). And, the monsters are my creation too.

* * *

Whirling around, Kit came face to face with a big ball of light blue light. The light then materialized into a beautiful woman with long and wavy dark brown hair pulled back into a partial ponytail. She wore a sky blue dress with flared sleeves and a transparent veil that covered the lower half of her face. Her tanned skin seemed to almost glow with the same blue light from which she came.

"Who . . . who are you?" stammered Kit.

"Do not be afraid, Kit," the woman replied, "I will not harm you, or your friends. My name is Tehreisha."

"What just happened?"

"You tapped into the power of the crystal."

Kit stared at the little trinket.

"That's right, Nokama mentioned it had powers."

"Powers that you've only just begun to discover."

"So, earlier, those beams it shot at us--" spoke Onua.

"Another one of its many abilities," Tehreisha finished Onua's thought, "The end result being the suit of Toa armor that you were just wearing, Kit."

Kit reflected thoughtfully, thinking back to what happened between her and the Toa before the battle with the Rahi.

"Yeah, when that happened, it felt like a tiny part of each of the Toa was being 'injected' into me, or something."

"Events such as that battle were the very reason why I gave you that crystal when you passed through the portal, Kit."

"You know about that?"

Tehreisha nodded.

"My sincerest apologies, child. You see, I'm the Gate Guardian. My sworn eternal duty is to maintain a very precarious balance to keep the numerous different realms, or realities, apart. But, twice every fifteen-hundred years, these inter-dimensional portals will open at random locations and dimensions, which can cause problems. When I discovered what had happened, it was too late, so I did the next best thing I could—I gave you that crystal for your own protection."

"So, am I stuck here forever?"

"No; the same portal that brought you here will reappear on this island within a month's time."

Kit smiled; there was a way to get home after all.

"But, you must be ready when the time comes, Kit," Tehreisha continued in a warning tone. "This will be the second time in this lifetime the portal appears. If you miss it, this phenomenon will not occur for another fifteen-hundred years—you will never see your family, friends, or world again."

Noting the air of importance in Tehreisha's voice, Kit nodded in understanding. Then, she became aware that the woman before her was beginning to fade. "I must go now, but I'll be back to escort you to the portal, Kit," and she disappeared, leaving a huge crowd in awe.

"Well then, shall we get back to where we left off?" asked Vakama, and everyone agreed.

With that settled, everyone gathered around the Amaja Circle, where Turaga Vakama, through the use of certain stones, relayed the story of the Bionicle. Her eyes fixed on the stones, Kit listened and watched with great interest.

Meanwhile, deep below the surface, a dark and powerful being mused to himself—Makuta. He saw and knew all that had happened at the Kini Nui. Using his power over shadow, he created both the Muaka that Kit confronted at Ko-Wahi and the group of Rahi that showed up at the Great Temple for the sole purpose of testing the girl, to see if she really was who he thought she was. He was even responsible for the storm that got Kit lost in Ko-Wahi. "It's just as I suspected, my Brother," he said to nothing in particular, except perhaps the face-like gate that was carved in the likeness of his brother, Mata Nui. "The human known as Kit has returned." With a deft swing that was the result of hatred and anger, he shattered a good sized piece of the wall of rock that made up his lair. He had felt the human girl's presence on the island since the first day she arrived and it irritated him; he hated humans and he hated this particular one with a vengeance. "I must rid myself of this pestilence once and for all. I must bring her here where she is most vulnerable," he thought with an evil sneer. "Soon, vengeance will be mine." With a plan in mind, Makuta chuckled softly to himself, a chuckle that soon developed into a sinister laugh that would have chilled Kit to her very core if she could hear it.

The month came and went, and, during that time, Kit perfected her energy bolt technique. It was soon time for her to prepare to return to the real world. However, the departure was bittersweet indeed. Though she was eager to go back home, she was also a bit sad that she would be leaving her new friends behind. Despite the short time she was on the island, it felt like they'd been through a lot: hanging out with the Toa and Matoran, learning from the Turaga, hearing their stories, and having all sorts of adventures. She was skipping rocks over a lake when she heard Hahli call to her.

"Mind if I join you?"

"Not really."

Hahli joined her in the rock skipping.

"Today's the day, huh?"

Kit nodded, and Hahli noted the gloomy look on her face.

"Aren't you happy to be going home, back to your family?"

"Of course, it's just--"

"I understand, and, for what it's worth, we're all going to miss you, too."

Kit looked down at the Ga-Matoran and revealed a sad smile.

Later that evening, Kit sat waiting at the Kini Nui; Tehreisha was going to be arriving any minute. Although, all of the waiting was making her agitated and almost wishing the Gate Guardian would hurry up and get it over with. Hearing twigs snapping, she turned to see the Toa Nuva approaching. "What are you all doing here?" she asked a bit surprised.

"Didn't think you were going to leave without saying farewell to all of us in person, did you?" asked Tahu.

She dared a small, sarcastic smile.

"The thought never crossed my mind."

As much as she hated to, Kit reluctantly got on with saying goodbye to the Toa. She was just finishing with Onua when a familiar light blue light appeared. Tehreisha had arrived.

"It is time, child."

"I'm coming."

She followed her toward the jungle. When she reached the edge of the foliage, she looked back at the Toa. Looking into their eyes, she could see that they were urging her on. With one final wave, she ran to catch up to Tehreisha. The Toa, meanwhile, stayed where they stood, staring at the dark, empty path where their human friend departed just a few moments ago. "I'm going to miss her," Gali sighed, and felt Onua's hand on her shoulder.

"We're all going to miss her, Gali, but at least she's going back to where she belongs."

The Toa nodded in agreement. Then, the quite of the evening was interrupted by a low growl. "Pohatu-brother, please tell me that was your stomach," said Lewa. The Toa of Stone shook his head. A louder growl was heard, and the Toa turned around to a horrifying sight. Before them stood six creatures that looked like they came from a nightmare. Three of them were about half the size of the Toa and had the appearance of dogs that were half demon. The other three monsters were roughly smaller than the dog monsters and looked like giant bats of sorts. The bat monsters had huge wings that could spread as far as the Toa were big and long tails that ended in triangular points.

"What are these creatures?" asked Gali.

"I don't know," answered Tahu, "but they don't look friendly."

Taking out their weapons, the Toa got into a circle and prepared to defend themselves. Almost as one unit, the beasts charged.

At that same exact moment, Kit and Tehreisha were still making their way through the jungle.

"How much further, Tehreisha?"

"We're almost there."

And sure enough, after ten more minutes, they had arrived at the portal.

"Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Kit was about to run into the portal when she heard a roar that stopped her in her tracks. The sound was unlike that of any Rahi she ever heard. "What the heck was that?" Tehreisha looked back in the direction of the roar, as if trying to sense something. "What's going on, Tehreisha?" asked Kit.

"It's the Toa, they're in danger."

"What kind of danger?"

"Great danger."

Kit looked at Tehreisha and back at the clearing where the Kini Nui rested. "I have to go help them," and began to run.

But, she didn't get farther than two strides when Tehreisha called out, "No, Kit!"

"Why not?"

"The portal won't remain open for too much longer. I'd give it no more than ten minutes."

"Ten minutes!" Kit exclaimed.

There was no way she was going to get back to the Kini Nui, help the Toa in a battle, and get back to the portal before it closed in that time span. "Hurry, Kit, you must get through the portal," said Tehreisha.

"But what about the Toa? I can't just leave them when they need me."

Tehreisha sadly shook her head.

"I'm sorry Kit, but you have no choice. If you don't enter this portal now, it will never again appear in this lifetime. You'll be trapped in this reality for the rest of your existence."

True, Kit did want to return home, to her family. But, how could she ever live with herself knowing that she had the power to help her friends, and didn't do so. Unsure of what to do, she stayed on the spot where she stood.

* * *

Next time--

Gali glanced around the clearing and didn't need anyone to tell her that she and the Toa were losing, and badly. While they were all exhausted and injured, all the monsters had to show for their part in the fight were some minor scratches and bruises. The Toa were cornered, and the beasts knew it. One of the dog monsters leaped for Tahu, ready to tear his throat out.

**A word from Goldenrod:**

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how look at it), the next chapter's going to bring this story to a close. But don't fret fans (especially you two, CodeLyoko and dragon goddess04), I have a surprise for you. However, you're going to have to wait until the next, and last, chapter's posted to find out what it is.


	11. Final Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Bionicle.

* * *

At the Great Temple, things weren't going very well for the Toa. Their strategy to keep together worked for a while, but, eventually, the monsters managed to scatter them all around the clearing. Plus, these beasts were proving to be quite powerful. Lewa was in the air fighting one of the bat creatures. He cried out in pain when it managed to graze his armor with its claws. It was about to attack again when the Toa of Air succeeded in regaining his composure just in time to deflect it with a gust of wind. Another bat monster dove and slammed Kopaka to the ground. Moving quickly, the Ice Toa flipped the creature off of him, but not before it bit into his shoulder. One of the dog monsters tackled Onua and lunged at his throat. Onua, however, managed to place one of his quakebreakers between him and the mouthful of savage teeth.

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Kit was still trying to decide what to do—go through the portal and live with the likely fact that the Toa would never see the light of the next day or go back to the Kini Nui and miss her inter-dimensional train. "Hurry, Kit," Tehreisha urged, "the portal will be closing in seven minutes. You must leave now." Slowly, her foot edged forward, then she put it back down forcefully.

"No! Not yet."

Tehreisha looked at her in surprise. "Tehreisha, see what you can possibly do to keep that thing open for just a little longer. I'll be back as quick as I can," and the girl was off like a shot.

"Oh, Kit!" the Gate Guardian gasped as she watched the young human run back to the jungle.

She stared into the distance until Kit's form disappeared into the darkness. A happy smile materialized on her face and, with a wave of her hand, the portal was gone.

Gali glanced around the clearing and didn't need anyone to tell her that she and the Toa were losing, and badly. While they were all exhausted and injured, all the monsters had to show for their part in the fight were some minor scratches and bruises. The Toa were cornered, and the beasts knew it. One of the dog monsters leaped for Tahu, ready to tear his throat out. Tahu instinctively raised up his swords to protect his neck, his life flashing before his eyes. Before anybody could do anything, a small form dashed out into the battlefield with a call like a battle cry. It kicked the dog monster hard, knocking it away from the Toa of Fire. With a yelp that was more out of surprise than pain, the creature tumbled on the ground until it regained its bearings. It was then that the Toa recognized their rescuer—it was Kit, in her Toa armor and ready to fight. "You came back?" asked a stunned Tahu.

"Sure," the girl replied, "couldn't let you guys have all of the fun, could I?" and she winked.

Almost as if the return of their little friend somehow renewed their energy, the Toa were ready to face the creatures again.

During the fight, Kit noticed a winged form heading for Pohatu. "Get down!" she shouted, and, grabbing the Toa's arm, she pulled him down with all of her might to the ground just as the form flew over their heads by inches. As they got back on their feet, a shriek was heard behind them. Whether the bat monster was the same one that they dodged or another one, Kit didn't know, and, at the moment, didn't care. Suddenly, without warning, the bat monster jumped.

"Look out!" Pohatu called as he pushed Kit away from him, taking the full force of the creature's double kick.

The Toa of Stone collided with the wall of a cliff and he slid to the ground, not moving. The monster actually attacked with enough force to knock him out cold. "Stay away from him you freak," Kit commanded to the creature as she placed herself between it and the fallen Toa. It let out a low growl and its lips seemed to form a wicked smile, as if it were taunting her. Its gaze shifted to Pohatu and observed him with a hungry look in its eyes. Frantically, Kit searched for something, anything she could use a weapon, and spied a long branch. Holding it like a bo, she got into a fighting stance, ready to defend both herself and the Stone Toa. The creature crouched and let out a shriek as it leaped, intending to knock Kit aside to get to Pohatu. Instinctively, Kit swung the stick like a baseball bat with all of her might. It made contact with the underside of the creature's jaw and threw it to the ground. After shaking itself, the creature growled again, this time angrily. 'This could get ugly,' she said to herself. The creature crouched and charged again. Kit swung, but it dodged and was now about to take a bite out of her shoulder. Thinking and reacting quickly, she arched the other end of the branch to the monster's face, countering its attack. It attacked again, and, this time, Kit didn't stop. With each swing, she tried to aim for the head or any other vulnerable spot. But then, the creature somehow managed to grab one end of the bough and broke it in half. Kit stared at the remnants of her weapon, wondering what to do now. A metallic gleam caught her eye as the creature prepared to pounce again. It jumped, only to see a streak of silver slash downward and feel a stinging pain on its shoulder. With a pained shriek, it jumped back and found Kit holding one of Pohatu's climbing claws dripping with its blood in her hand. Battered, bruised, and cut, the creature took off into the sky, flying in a bit of an awkward fashion due to its injury. It was then that Kit saw that the sky was clouded over with the same strange clouds that appeared at Ta-Koro that one day. Because they had witnessed their brethren's confrontation with the girl, the other monsters called off the attack and disappeared either into the jungle or the sky. Meanwhile, Kit watched and listened to the bat monster's departure, almost unable to believe what just happened. As the clouds dissipated, she dropped to her knees and stared into the nothingness ahead of her, still lost in her thoughts. She didn't even feel Onua's hand on her shoulder until he spoke to her.

Snapping out of it, as if she were in a trance, she turned to face the Toa of Earth's concerned expression.

"Kit, are you alright?"

"Yeah . . . yeah I think so."

After she had shakily got onto her feet, she and Onua helped up Pohatu, who had since regained consciousness.

"Thanks for the help, Kit."

"I did what I had to do. I'm just happy that you guys are ok."

"But what about the portal?" asked Tahu.

With a forlorn look, Kit gazed back toward the jungle. "It's probably closed by now."

"And with it, your only way back to your world," Kopaka said solemnly.

"You mean to speaktell us that you sacrificed your lastonly chance to get back home in order to helpsave us?" asked Lewa, a bit shocked.

"Yes. And, don't any of you dare tell me that you wouldn't do the same for me or any other friend."

Seeing the girl's point, Lewa smiled, "Wouldn't thinkdream of it."

"I just wish I could've seen my family and friends again, let them know that I'm ok and to say goodbye."

Gali stepped up to her. "Maybe somehow, someday, you will, Kit. But, in the meantime, if you'd like, we could make you an official islander of Mata Nui. Our island could be like your second home."

Kit thought about, and nodded, "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Your offer is generous, Water Spirit," said a familiar voice, and Tehreisha appeared before them, "But, it's unnecessary."

"What do you mean, Tehreisha?" asked Onua.

In response, Tehreisha waved her hand and a portal materialized. Kit couldn't believe her eyes anymore than the Toa could.

"How?"

"Simple," spoke Kopaka, "She can control the portals at will."

"So that story about the portals--" said Pohatu.

"Was just that—a story," replied Tehreisha, "I was the one responsible for bringing you here in the first place, Kit."

"Why?"

"I had to test you."

"Test me?"

Patiently, Tehreisha began to explain. "You see, Kit, the part about me being the Gate Guardian is true, but it's not the whole story. On top of being responsible of keeping the realities separate, it once was also my duty to fend off evil forces from invading those worlds."

"Once was?"

"Eons ago, it was my responsibility to maintain a precarious balance to keep the various worlds separate and fight off any evil force that sought to either invade or corrupt them. However, as the centuries passed on, it got harder and harder to do both because I can leave my post for only so long and I can't just sit there and watch a world, perhaps even an entire universe, disappear."

"How do you mean?"

Tehreisha lifted her hand and, with her index finger, drew several lines in different colors and piled them on top of each other.

"Say the blue line is the real world, or as we like to call it, the First Universe. The red line underneath it is the Bionicle universe, and all of the other lines represent other realities. Though separate, they coexist in perfect harmony."

"Like a rainbow," Onua observed.

Tehreisha nodded and continued.

"Unfortunately, there are evil, malevolent forces out there, who wish to intrude into a certain reality. Their intentions can either be invasion, corruption, or even complete annihilation of the universe as we know it."

"Annihilation?" Gali gasped, and Tehreisha nodded.

"First, the people of the invaded reality start seeing glimpses of events that are happening in other worlds. That's the first sure sign that something's wrong and where the trouble begins." As she continued to explain, the rainbow diagram before them began to slowly shift and spin, the lines beginning to overlap each other. "As you can see, if nothing is done at that point, the realities begin to intersect and merge. With the balance meant to keep them stable by keeping them apart gone, chaos arises. Eventually, things become so confusing and distorted until--" The whirl of mixing colors that was a perfect rainbow completely cancels itself out before their very eyes. Kit and the Toa gasp, fully understanding Tehreisha's point—the universe as they know it would cease to exist.

"And some of these evil forces actually strive to make this happen?" Tahu asked in disbelief.

"Yes," answered Tehreisha, "Because then, the universe is vulnerable to their manipulation. They can reform it however they wish."

"And where do I fit into all of this?" asked Kit.

"Because, since I now have to focus all of my energies into maintaining the balance, Kit, I needed someone to look after the various worlds, to protect them from those that would wish to corrupt them. But, I couldn't just pick any person; I needed someone who had a special kind of soul—the kind with a great amount of potential that would allow them to accomplish wonderful things. Then, once they're brought to a certain realm, I need to test them, to see if they have what it takes. For instance, the Nui Rama attack you experienced when you first arrived was your first test."

Kit stared at her, and Tehreisha confirmed that the Nui Rama attack at Le-Koro was another one of her tests.

"And, you just now passed your last test with flying colors."

"You mean from back in the jungle?"

Tehreisha nodded, "You had already proven that you were willing to put your life on the line for a friend or stranger, courageous and resourceful. All that was left to be done was to see if you were capable of giving up everything to do what you felt duty bound to do."

"What about the storm that got me lost in Ko-Wahi, the Rahi attack at the Kini Nui a month ago, and those monsters from just now? Were they more of your tests, too?"

Tehreisha paused, a fearful look appearing in her eyes. "Those events were not my doing."

"Whose then?" demanded Tahu.

"The storm and Rahi attack were both the work of your nemesis."

"Makuta! We should've known."

"As for those monsters, they were servants of an evil force who wishes to bend the very existence of this reality to his will."

"What sort of evil force?" asked Kopaka.

"I'm not sure yet. But, I do know this—it's quite powerful and will stop at nothing to get what it wants. That's why you need to be strong, Kit, in body, mind, and spirit."

Kit was lost deep in thought. If what Tehreisha said was true, then that meant the weight of not only this realm, but that of hers and possibly countless others was now resting on her shoulders. It felt like no other kind of responsibility she had ever felt before. She wasn't sure if she could handle it. Plus, she was no warrior like the Toa; she was just a kid who hadn't even graduated from high school yet. But, didn't Tehreisha mention that, when she was searching for someone for this sort of task, she was searching for someone who had a strong soul, whatever exactly that meant? Didn't she pass all of the Guardian's tests and more? With that in mind, she understood that Tehreisha wouldn't have tested her if she didn't think she, at least, had the potential to do what was asked of her. All of a sudden, she was filled with a swelling sense of importance and purpose, a great feeling that she never felt before. She nodded in understanding. "Count on it, Tehreisha." With a smile in her eyes, Tehreisha nodded, full of pride for her chosen one.

"My time here has ended; I must depart," she announced and slowly started fading away. "Farewell, Kit, and may the power protect you."

The Toa and their human ally stared in wonder at where Tehreisha once hovered a moment ago. Tahu then stepped up to Kit's side and held out his fist.

"Nice work, kid."

"Thanks."

Kit touched fists with him and smiled; the suspicion in Tahu's voice and features was gone. She had earned the Toa of Fire's trust and respect.

Elsewhere, a giant bat monster stood submissively before the backside of a humanoid form hidden in the darkness that surrounded him. It chattered, relaying a message to its master. When it was finished, the tall dark figure's head perked, a sign that he was now on the alert, reacting to something the creature told him. "Are you sure?" he inquired in a dark tone as he turned sideways toward the monster. The tone was one that the beast knew meant that it had better not be lying to him. In response, it showed its master its bruised face and cut shoulder, which was by now beginning to heal. It chattered again, as if adding to its gestured statement. The figure turned his face away from the creature and, for a moment, there was nothing. His right hand formed into a fist, anger slowly rising within him. Then, with a yell of rage, he threw his hand towards the ground, purple lightning-like energy flying from his palm and slamming with a loud crack to the spot where the creature was standing just a minute ago, lucky enough to escape with its life. In terror, it flew away to seek refuge into the blackness. The figure, meanwhile, let out another enraged scream as he reached out his arms, more energy streaking upwards from his fingertips. Closing his hands, he called off his assault and lowered his arms to his sides. Though he managed to calm down somewhat, one could tell from the atmosphere in the surrounding location that his anger was far from spent; the news his scout told was not at all good. "So, it is true, Gate Guardian; you did bring her here," he growled to the murky distance in front of him. "But I know her weakness now; I know how to make her utterly defenseless. And, once she's out of the picture, this realm will be mine and nothing, not even those pitiful Toa, will stand in my way."

Back on Mata Nui, on a mesa in Po-Wahi, Kit was on her back looking up at the stars. She still had a hard time believing that it had only been the other night when she discovered how and why she came to this island and Tehreisha left. Everything that the Gate Guardian shared left her with a lot to think about: evil forces wanting to control certain realities, the terrible effects that could happen to every known and unknown realm if one was tampered with, her being chosen for this, and what other powers the crystal still hid. After closing her eyes and releasing a deep sigh, she decided that it was best to push these thoughts out of her mind, for now. Right now, the island was peaceful and she was going to enjoy it while it lasted. And, her first order of business was arranging a camp out at the top of the same mesa that she and Pohatu climbed. With a smile, she located the six-starred constellation. However, she didn't go there by herself. "Hey Kit, you coming?" a voice called. Sitting up, she spotted Takua at the campfire which was surrounded by Jaller, Hewkii, Macku, and Hafu.

"Yeah, I'm coming," and she ran to join them for some storytelling.

Takua offered to tell the first story and they all went around the circle taking turns. After Kit was done with hers, which was a bit on the scary side, they decided it was time to get some sleep. When she reached her tent, Kit stole another look at the constellation, and noticed something a little different. Near the right side of the stellar formation was a tiny speck of light that looked like what could be a new star. She swore it wasn't there when she was observing it earlier. "The seventh star?" she whispered to herself. Shrugging her shoulders, she walked in and, as she drifted off to sleep, one more thought crossed her mind. Her life would never be the same again.

* * *

Author's Note: Last chapter, I informed you that I had a surprise for those people who enjoyed this story, and here it is. I have not one, two, nor three, but **four** sequels to this story in mind (remember back in chapter 1 I mentioned this was only the beginning of Kit's adventures in the Bionicle world?)! I can't tell you when you can expect the next installment with work taking over most of my schedule, but I'll try to get it and the others up ASAP. See ya.

Oh, one more thing--a special thank you to CodeLyoko and dragon goddess04 for their reviews every step of the way.


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